EU Business Topics

What is the purpose of the EU?

• The union’s purpose is to promote peace, establish a unified economic and monetary system, promote inclusion and combat discrimination, break down barriers to trade and borders, encourage technological and scientific developments, champion environmental protection, and, among others, promote goals like a competitive global market and social progress.

How the EU works:

• It’s kind of a pan-european government

• Inlcuding various institutions which are managed by representatives of the 27 member countries

• In order to be able to function, they create laws and make sure that these laws are enforced

• With an legislative body, an executive body and a juridical body

Executive body

• Member states →

• European council →

• European Commisson ← → Consultations

Legistative body

European Parliment (co-decision) Council of ministers

EU Workforce

• EU Commission (workhorse of the EU): roughly 32,000 people, including 27 commissioners

• EU Parliament: 705 Members of the Parliament + roughly 8,000 people

• All together: roughly 60,000 people for a population of 450 Million People (France employs 140,000 people for a population of 67 Million people)

• Interesting detail for you: the EU hires roughly 1900 trainees every year!!!!

EU Budget

Total €2.018 trillion

• Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) - The EU’s 7 year budget = €1.211 trillion

• NextGenerationEU - COVID-19 recovery package = €806.9 billion

• NextGenerationEU contribution to other programmes = €83.1 billion

Roughly 170 billion/year without the Next Generation Fund

The main institutions of the EU:

• The European Council

• The European Commission

• The European Parliament

• The Council of Ministers (The Council fo the European Union)

• The European Court of Justice

The European Council

• Role: Defines the general political direction and priorities of the European Union

• Members: Heads of state of government of EU countries, European Commision President, High Representative for Foreign Affairs & Security Policy

• President: Anótonio Costa (Portugal)

• Established in: 1974 (informal forum), 1992 (formal status), 2009 (official EU institution)

• Location: Brussels (Belgium)

Main roles of the European Council:

• Define the overall “strategy” of the European Union

• Provides the EU with ‘the necessary impetus for its development’ and defines its ‘general political directions and priorities’

• Defines the principles of and general guidelines for the Common Foreign and Security Policy of the EU

• Plays an important role in the European Semester.

  As its spring meetings, it issues policy orientations on macroeconomic, fiscal and structural reform and growth-enhancing policies

European Council - Examples:

• Enlargement rounds of the EU

• International security and the fight against terrorism

• European neighbourhood policy and relations with Russia

• Relations with the Mediterranean countries and the Middle East

• Adopted the guidelines on the framework for the relationship with the UK after Brexit

• Played a primary role in the whole Brexit development

The European Commission

• Role: Executive arm of the EU that proposes laws, manages the budget, enforces law and promotes the EU on an international level

• Members: A college of commissioners, one from each Member State

• President: Ursula von der Leyen (2nd term, reelected)

• Established in: 1974 (informal forum), 1992 (formal status), 2009 (official EU institution)

• Employed: 33,000

• Appointed: every 5 years

• Location: Brussels (Belgium)

The European Commission has four main roles:

• to propose legislation to the Parliament and the Council;

• to manage and implement EU policies and the budget;

• to enforce European law (jointly with the Court of Justice);

• to represent the Union internationally around the world

How are they elected?

• Neither the President of the Commssion, nor the commisioners are “elected”.

• The President is usually a person with an important political background, certain prestige and impeccable records, who is proposed by one or some of the Heads of State. The role usually switches between big countries (like Germany, France, Italy) and smaller ones (like Luxembourg, Portugal). The President has to be chosen by Unanimity.

• The Commisioners are also proposed by their own countries, but need to be impartial, and will also be appointed in function of that.

• The European Parliament has to approve the EU Commissioners (they “grill” them first) and has the power to dismiss the President of the European Commission, commissioners or everybody at once!!

The European Parliament (voice of the people)

• Role: Directly elected legislative arm of the EU

• Members: 705 Members of the European Parliament, directly elected every 5 years, associated with the national political groups of the member states

• President: Roberta Metsola (2nd term)

• Established in: 1958

• Location: Strassbourg (France) / Brussels

The Parliament has three main roles:

• It shares with the Council the power to legislate - to pass laws. The fact that it is a directly elected body helps guarantee the democratic legitimacy of European law.

• It exercises democratic supervision over all EU institutions, and in particular the Commission. It has the power to approve or reject the nomination of the President of the Commission and Commissioners, and the right to censure the Commission as a whole.

• It shares authority with the Council over the EU budget and can therefore influence EU spending. At the end of the budget procedure, it adopts or rejects the budget in its entirely.

The Council of The European Union: (Council of Ministers)

• Role: Deciding on policies and adopting legislation

• Members: One minister from each Member State
  Which ministers attend which Council meeting depends on the subjects on the agenda, this is known as the ‘configuration’ of the Council. (If, for example, the Council is to discuss environmental issues, the meetings will be attended by the environment minister from each EU Member State)

• President: rotates between the Member States every 6 months

• Location: Brussels (Belgium) and Luxembourg

Council of Europe:

• The Guardian of Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law in Europe

• United Nations observer

• Can not create laws, writes reports and gives recommendations

• 46 member states: EU + some others

• Entirely seperate body (not controlled by the EU, not an institution of the EU), although there is a close collaboration

The Council of The European Union has five key responsibilities:

1. to pass European laws - in most fields, it legislates jointly with the European Parliament ;

2. to coordinate the Member States’ policies, for example, in the economic field;

3. to develop the EU’s common foreign and security policy, based on guidelines set by the European Council;

4. to conclude international agreements between the EU and one or more states or international organisations';

5. to adopt the EU’s budget, jointly with the European Parliament.

The European Court of Justice

• Role: To make sure the EU law is correctly interpreted and applied, and to make sure companies and citizens can claim if they suffer damages from any EU law

• Members: Court of Justice: 1 judge fro, each EU country, plus 11 advocates general, General Court: 47 judges. In 2019 this will be increased to 56 (2 judges from each EU country)

• President: Koen Lenaerts

• Established in: 1952

• Location: Luxembourg

The Single Market:

The Single Market is over 30 years old.

• It belonged to the original purposes at the Creation of the European Economic Community (later on EU).

• In 1986 the Treaty (Constitution of the EU) was modified to allow for the Single Market

• In 1993 the Single Market is finally ratified by all EU-members

Objectives of the Single Market:

• Stimulating economic growth throughout the region

• Improving the quality and availability of goods and services

• Reduce prices

How?

• Eliminate all trade barriers within the EU-borders

• Make trade easier

• In general, a well-functioning (internal) market increases economic efficiency, e.g. by lowering transaction costs, and boosts growth. It can help to shield countries from the repercussions of economic shocks through increased cross-border mobility

The four freedoms of the EU:

• Goods

• Services

• People

• Capital

The Single Market: The four freedoms

• Goods - mostly ok, but still some local legislations (f.i. for labelling, health, ..)

• Services - not complete:

  > If you are a lawyer in Spain, try to get a job done in The Netherlands

  > If in Spain as a foreigner (from the EU) you want an official job at the University, you have to get your title homologated in Spain first (takes a couple of years)

• Capital: VAT-laws are still different, taxds are different => can be barriers for cross-border investment

• People: mobility in the EU is still relatively low, language can be a problem, titles and homologations..

What’s in for the Future?

• Continuous improvement

• Fiscal integration

• Coordination of Social Security Systems

• Digital transformation throughout the EU

• A European Identity?

The financial system in the EU and the single currency

Befor a country is even allowed to adopt the Euro, it has to meet several economic criteria which include:

• Low inflation

• Low budget deficit (less than 3% of GDP)

• Low debt (less than 60% of GDP)

• Exchange rate stability

• Low long-term interest rates

The Economic and Monetary Union (EMU)

• coodination of economic policy-making between Member States

• coordination of fiscal policies, notably through limits on government debt and deficit

• an independent monetary policy run by the European Central Bank

• single rules and supervision of financial institutions within the euro area

• the single currency and the euro area

EuroGroup

• Euro area ministers with repsonsibility for finances of those countries which have accepted the euro as national currency.

• At meetings, the group is joined by the eurocommissioner of Economic and Monetary Affairs, and the president of the ECB

European Central Bank

• Independent body

• Sets monetary policy for the EU countries

• Main objective: control of inflation/price stability

• Supervisor of financial institutions in the Eurozone

• Controls the Euro

The ECB has four main economic activities

1. Implementing an effective monetary policy for the euro area with the objective of price stability;

2. Coordinating economic and fiscal policies in EU countires;

3. Ensuring the single market runs smoothly

4. Supervising and monitoring financial institutions

Benefits of the Euro as a currency: For the EU citizens:

• Facilitates price comparison and thus competition

• Cross border shopping

• Stable currency

• Easier and cheaper travelling

Benefits of the Euro as a currency: For business

• Easier and cheaper

• Less risk

• Possibilty to enforce EURO as currency even outside the Eurozone

• Facilities investments and long term planning

The SEPA: the Single Euro Payments Area

• All EU-countries, plus Andorra, Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Monaco, San Marino, UK, Vatican City State, Mayotte, Saint-Pierre-et Miquelon, Guernsey, Jersey and Isle of Man

• SEPA harmonises the way cashless euro payments are made across Europe.

• It allows you to credit transfers, debit payments or card payments in other countries, as you were doing a domestic operation

• Most payments in the EU are done by bank transfer, officially there is no cost (although the banks may charge a fee themselves, but the cost should be the same as the domestic cost) and mostly payments will be recieved in 1 day

Total amount of official languages in the EU

24

• Only three working languages in the EU
  - English, French, German

• All official documents are available in all 24 languages online

Population projection for EU - 2040

• - 65 million

• (up in population in Western Europe and scandanavia, and down in eastern Europe)

Current top 5 most populated countries in EU

1. Germany - 84 million

2. France - 68 million

3. Italy - 59 million

4. Spain - 48 million

5. Poland - 37 million

EU surface area

• 249,000 KM²

• 5.5%

Current top 5 biggest in size countries in the EU

1. France

2. Spain

3. Sweden

4. Germany

5. Finland

EU’s share of world’s GDP

17%

Top 3 of the EU’s GDP share

1. Germany 24%

2. France 17%

3. Italy 12%

Top 5 Gdp per capita in EU

1. Luxembourg

2. Denmark

3. Ireland

4. Netherlands

5. Sweden

Total R&D expenditure EU

$336 Billion

List of Current EU countries

Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Republic of Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden.

Non-Euro countries in the EU

• Bulgaria

• Czech Republic

• Denmark

• Hungary

• Poland

• Romania

• Sweden

Members of EU who are not apart of NATO (4/27)

• Austria

• Cyprus

• Ireland

• Malta

EU countries that are not apart of Schengen

• Albania

• Armenia

• Azerbaijan

• Belarus

• Bosnia & Herzegovina

• Macedonia

• Moldova

• Montenegro

• Serbia

• Ukraine

• United Kingdom

What is the Schengen agreement?

The Schengen area allows more than 400 million people to travel freely between member countries without going through border controls.

Regional “blocs”

• “strong axe of the EU” – core countries: France, Benelux, Germany

• The South – “economy problemkids”

• The Northern countries – high welfare

• The Baltic countries – Ex Soviet Union states very well integrated, good
  economies, although still under average EU level

• The East – Ex Soviet Union countries still struggling

Brexit Introduction - Reasons

1. The UK feels that the EU threatens their sovereignty

2. The EU is strangling the UK in burdensome regulations

3. EU laws do not permit UK to control migration the way they would like to

4. The UK could keep the money they currently send to the EU

5. The great recession

Brexit - History

• In 1957 the EU is constituted (then called the
  European Economic Community)

• In 1960 the UK constitutes the EFTA, together
  with Austria, Denmark, Norway, Portugal,
  Sweden and Switzerland.

• Later on Finland, Iceland and Liechtenstein
  also join the EFTA.

• In 1963 and 1967, Charles de Gaulle vetoes
  the entrance of the UK in the EU

• In 1973 UK joins the EU

Brexit - First Referendum 1975

• 67.2% voted to stay in EU

Brexit - The UK rebate

• UK thinks they pay too much of their earned Custom duties and VAT-earnings to the EU

• And they consider that the Agricultural Policy does not play in their favor (70% of the EU-Budget at that time was spent on Agricultural Policy - it is especially France who takes advantage of it).

• So, they negotiate a rebate which has been renegotiated in various occasions and was
  valid up to the Brexit!
  

Margaret Thatcher

1. Strong supporter of the Single Market...

2. ...but nothing more

3. She will systematically try to torpedo all initiatives which could give more sovereignty or power to the EU...

4. ...but she goes so far that eventually she
   will dig her own political grave

John Major

1. Not much better...
2. ...shows however more flexibility
3. He cannot repair the damage done by Margaret Thatcher
4. ...although later on he will turn out to be against Brexit

Brexit - The UK opt-outs:

1. 1992: Maastricht treaty: opt out of EURO and the Economic and Monetary Union
2. 1997: Amsterdam treaty: opt out of SCHENGEN
3. 2007: Lisbon treaty: opt out of Freedom, Justice and Security
4. 2007: Lisbon treaty: opt out of the Charter of Fundamental rights

Pre-Brexit

➢ Post Tatcher-UK continues to believe “they are not treated well” by the EU
➢ 2005-2015: the idea of a referendum is always there
➢ 2013-2016: Immigration crises explodes
➢ 2015: David Cameron is under pressure to announce a referendum in order to avoid losing (Conservatives’) votes to the Independence Party
➢ February 2016: Cameron announces the referendum

Brexit - Ireland and Northern Ireland

“The troubles”:
❖ 1960’s: start of 30 years of fighting and violence in
Northern Ireland, mainly between Unionists (majority in
Northern Ireland) and Nationalists (want to join the
Catholic Ireland – minority).
❖ Important role of the IRA (Irish Republican Army)
❖ 1998: Good Friday Agreement is signed in Belfast

Consequences of the Good Friday Agreement (peace of
Ulster) :
❖ It somehow (although not explicitly) promises not to
put a border between Northern Ireland and Ireland
❖ Which was at that time possible thanks the European
Single Market
❖ And lets the door open for a future reunification of
Ireland

Brexit - The final solution

What has been agreed upon?

• Zero tariffs, zero quotas

• A robust level playing field
  (transparency, enforcement, dispute settling mechanism)

• Joint Management of fish stocks

• Social security coordination (for people working in UK, or UK-people in the EU)

Brexit - Economic consequences (UK)

➢ High economical cost for the UK (-3 to 5% GDP)
• Drop of the Pound
• Increase in Unemployment
• Drop in incoming FDI
➢ Exit of companies
➢ Lack of trade deals (have to be negotiated again
from scratch)?
➢ Logistical cost
➢ Rupture of supply chains

Brexit - Political costs (UK)

➢ Even more division in politics in the UK
➢ The blaming game
➢ Exit of Institutions
➢ Weakened geopolitical position of the UK
➢ Internal troubles with Scotland and Northern Ireland
➢ Difficult relation with the EU

Brexit - Economic consequences (EU)

➢ UK represents + 13% of the population of the EU, about
5,5% of its territory and about 15% of its GDP
➢ 3% of the GDP of the EU (EU-27) is exported to the UK
➢ Business with the UK will become more difficult
➢ Especially Ireland, Germany (cars), The Netherlands,
Belgium and France will be affected
➢ Specially manufacturing sectors and agri-food in Ireland
and the Netherlands
➢ Tourism/cars in the case of Spain

Brexit - Political costs (EU)

➢ A precedent is created – is this the beginning of the end? (may
depend on what the real economic cost for the UK turns out to be)
➢ Confusion and instability
➢ Possible weakened geopolitical position of the EU
➢ EU Members looking for bilateral “solutions” with the UK
➢ Redistribution of the power in the EU: who will “substitute” the UK?
➢ How to handle possible independence-reactions from f.i. Scotland?

Brexit - Conclusions

❑ Political and emotional issue fed by a long history
❑ Badly managed from the beginning
❑ Trilemma problem with respect to Ireland, which is not easy to solve
❑ Could only be solved with political goodwill
❑ Has consequences for both the UK and the EU
❑ Finally, the EU-UK TCA (trade and Cooperation Agreement has been signed)
❑ The EU, thanks to intelligent negotiation, came out quite well

Expansion of EU - what next?

• Actually the only way is eastwards: Albania, Bosnia-
Herzogovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North-Macedonia, Serbia
• Ukraine, Georgia, Moldavia
• Turkey is already an official candidate
• North: Norway (refused before)? Iceland? Part of the EFTA
• South: Africa? Not on the agenda (“Any European state which
respects EU democratic values and is committed to promoting them may
apply for EU membership.”)

EU Enlargement Policy

The EU integrates new members through the enlargement process
once they meet a number of political and economic conditions. The
process encourages democratic and economic reforms in countries that want to become EU members and promotes greater stability and prosperity in Europe.

Expansion of EU

1. Potential candidate for membership

2. Become a candidate

3. Negotiation start

4. Membership accepted

5. Membership Ratified

Expansion of the EU - Detailed

➢The European Council takes the lead and will open the candidacy (unanimity)

➢The European Commission will do the “negotiations” – they work on all the
chapters from the 6 clusters with the candidate

➢Both the European Council (unanimity), the European Commission and the European Parliament have to approve the results of the “negotiations”

➢Once the candidate is officially accepted as a member, the country itself (the candidate) has to ratify it following the constitution of that country (usually through a national parliamentary vote or a national referendum)

Marketing B2C vs B2B

• Marketing for B2C has to be much more personal

• Marketing for B2B is much less personal

For B2C you will probably have to adapt more to loca/regional needs, than for B2B

Marketing - segmentation

Political-legal:

• The EU has already done a lot of work in order to harmonize this

• Food traceability

• European Advertising Standards Alliance (EASA)

But ther are still differences

• E.g. Advertising in Sweden is strictly regulated, especially at times when kids watch TV

• E.g. Non-trade barriers are erected to “protect” national business (examples: construction licenses - healthy food in Germany)

Marketing - Segmentation (Economic conditions)

• Tje EU does real efforts to eliminate differences

• Look at Eastern Europe and how they changed since entering the EU

Segmentation

• Marketeers look for segments that are measurable in purchasing power and size

• These segments must be sufficiently large for sound profit potential:

  • E.g. teenagers

  • E.g. senior citizens

Segmentation - Demographics

E.g. teenagers: growing purchase power, buyers of the future

E.g. senior citizens: ever growing population, with sometimes plenty of money to spend (depending on where they live)

Segmentation - Socio-cultural:

• In Germany 30% of homes have satellite TV

• Where do people watch advertisements? On their mobile!

• At what hours? Rush hours are different from country to country

• Media advertising versus online advertising

The Future of Marketing in Europe

• Corporate Social Reponsibility

• Sustainability

• Technology

Non-Marketing - Lobbying

• As business in Europe gets more “Europeanized” people but especially companies want to make sure that their voice is heard (why??)

• It does not only involve European people, it involves the whole globalised world

• 2 hotspots of lobbying in the world:

  • Washington

  • Brussels

  • 15000 to 30000 people are involved in lobbying activities in both centers

What does a lobbyist do?

• To defend their business interests

• To reduce risk and uncertainty for companies

• To make sure the EU takes into consideration interests of all stakeholders (including private people)

• To make sure rules & laws are respected

• To make sure the weakest are not excluded

What does a lobbyist do p2?

• Introduce, modify or abolish legislation

• Rule upon an action or measure to be taken

• Distribute, modify or suspend the distribution of specific resources;

• Or in any other manner alter the economic or political environment of a firm, industry, sector or economy directly or indirectly

What is lobbying?

• Is a part of the business practice of public affairs management that involves government affairs, political communication, media and socio-political relations.

• Not related to the market (product/service), but to the company and/or sector => non-market strategy

  • Its function is to engage with political and social stakeholders, external to the company, in the order to influence a given public administration

  • Correct lobbying is a legal and beneficial activity

• The main lobbying tool in a political opportunity structure is the exchange of informationm and expertise

Governments, both national as in the EU, are interested:

• In a company’s working environment

• In the way the workforce is treated

• In the way a company contributes to the environment, sustainability etc…

In the case of EU, the decision-making process foresees in consulting external parties:

• Consultancy companies

• Associations

• Think tanks

• …

Who lobbies?

• Pressure groups

• Big companies usually will work through specialised consultancies or have their own specialised people in Brussels

• Remember: <1 million people can force the European Commision to formulate a law proposal

what does the typical lobbyist do?

➢ Look to shape democratic decisions in its own client’s best interests
➢ Collect and distribute information
➢ Analyse (possible) impacts
➢ Complement the knowledge of legislators and bureaucrats in the making of laws
➢ Present and shape cases in accordance with the political and corporate agenda
✓ Lot of R&D
✓ Meetings, phone calls, communication
✓ Breakfasts, lunches & dinners etc...

Importance of Lobbying

The more integrated the EU becomes,
the more companies both inside and outside the EU want to make sure they
know what is going on, on the highest level.
➢ Companies want to defend their market share
(and thus defend their business interests)
and
➢ Companies look for other business opportunities or make sure not to
loose out on business opportunities

THE THREE KEYS TO LONG-TERM COMPETITIVENESS IN EU LOBBYING

❑ Resilience
❑ Flexibility
❑ Speed of action (pro-activity and reactivity)
All three factors are necessary to
• either gain from the political economy,
• or prevent, deflect or minimize potential corporate disaster

What is Geopolitics?

➢ Geopolitics is as old as the Greeks (Aristoteles)
and the Romans, although it was never used as
a separate discipline
✓ They formed “political” alliances with other “tribes”
✓ They entered in wars to conquer territories
✓ They had to overcome “geographical differences” (the
Mediterranean Ocean, the Alps, the Pyrenees, rivers,...)
✓ They faced strong cultural differences

The imperial theory

➢ From 1492 on Colonization starts to create huge political changes
➢ Colonizers literally “redraw” the maps of a part of the world, as they divide territories between them...
➢ ...in a sometimes-arbitrary way, that is, without taking into consideration who lives there, and what may be the consequences for the people living there
➢ Rivers, mountain riffs, but also...straight lines

Strong economy is needed:

❖ In large states where it is impossible to supply a huge army to control a big population

❖ To ensure technological progress => to modernize military technology => security

❖ To ensure domestic stability => to concentrate on foreign policy (= geostrategy) => to provide more resources for the state => domestic stability

❖ To attract allies or to pay in different forms to the other states for their assistance and international support

Geoeconomics

States, however:

• Seek to maximise outcome within their boundaries

• Restrict advantages to their own residents

• Aim for domestically optimal decisions, regardless of how others are affected

Liberalism

• Cooperation

• Collective security

• International Regimes

Realism

• War of all against all

• Power

• Security

• Self-help

Hard Power

• comes from the times when military power was very important (colonial period up to postwar and the Cold War)

Soft Power

• more focused on collaboration, defence of certain values, use of diplomacy

Is the EU (geo-)economically important in the world?

➢ Yes

➢ But it is losing ground

➢ See the EU competitiveness program of Mario Draghi

➢ It is however still one of the big supporters of Free Trade and Multilateral institutions

Is the EU technologically important?

No

(no european brands in the top ten)

Is the EU geopolitically important in the world?

Yes

But, less and less:

• They are less and less involved in helping out other countries (f.i. in Africa France lost important geopower)

• They spend less and less on development aid compared to other parts of the world

• There is less FDI from the EU abroad

• The rate of negotiating / signing FTA’s has been reduced

Is the EU militarily important?

No

• They lack all kinds of weapons (from small to large), infrastructure, active army, defense industry

• An EU army doesn’t really exist for the moment, although all nations have their own army

• The EU depends for its defense on the NATO

What does that mean for the EU?

Challenges:

- Internal divisions among member states on foreign policy issues - Difficulties in quick and efficient decision-making on high politics - The need for significant structural and treaty reforms

- Balancing strategic autonomy with interdependence, especially concerning NATO and the US - No clear strategy and program?

Entrepreneurship

The capacity and willingness to develop, organise and manage a business venture along with any of its risks in order to make a profit. The most obvious example of entrepreneurship is the starting of new businesses

In economics, entrepreneurship combined with land, labour, natural resources and capital can produce profit.

Entrepreneurial spirit is characterised by innovation and risk-taking, and is an essential part of a nation’s ability to suceed in an ever changing and increasingly competitive global marketplace.

Factors making entrepreneurship unfeasible for young europeans

• Lack of information (49%)

• Administrative Burden (72%)

• Financial support (82%)

Europeans are less entrepreneural

Only 37% of Europeans would like to be self-employed, compared to 51% of people in the US or China

SME’s

• 99/100 businesses are SMEs

• 2/3 employees work in SMEs

• 58 cents in every Euro of value added is generated by SMEs