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This newly adopted recommendation will make it easier for SMEs to respond to requests for sustainability information from large companies and financial institutions, which are subject to mandatory reporting under the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and which have them in their value chains.
The voluntary standard for SMEs (VSME), developed by EFRAG, is encouraged by the European Commission (EC) for use by large companies as widely as possible when requesting sustainability information from SMEs.
SMEs may also choose to report sustainability information voluntarily to improve their access to sustainable finance and to better understand and monitor their own sustainability performance, thereby improving their resilience and competitiveness.
The EC has published a Call for Evidence on the Digital Omnibus, and is seeking stakeholder feedback until 14 October 2025. The initiative aims to make EU digital rules clearer, more coherent, and less burdensome in particular for SMEs.
The Digital Omnibus is first step in a wider ‘Digital Fitness Check’, to review existing rules and introduce immediate measures to reduce complexity. It targets areas where the EU can meet regulatory objectives at lower administrative cost, notably:
The EC will use this feedback to draft proposals for a directive and a regulation, currently expected for 19 November.
The Council presidency and the European Parliament’s (EP) negotiators have reached a provisional agreement to simplify the InvestEU programme and further strengthen EU competitiveness.
The revised rules aim to support key EU policies, notably related to the Competitiveness Compass, the Clean Industrial Deal, defence industrial policy and military mobility. They also make it easier for Member States to contribute to the programme and simplify administrative requirements.
The provisional agreement revises the definition of SMEs and reduces the number of indicators on which implementing partners will need to report for small-size operations not exceeding EUR 300,000. It also reduces the frequency and scope of reporting obligations from implementing partners, going from semi-annual to annual reporting.
The deal needs now to be formally endorsed by both the EP and the Council.
The draft report, prepared by MEP Jorge Martin Frias (PfE/Spain), puts forward the EP’s recommendations for improving smaller companies’ access to a broad range of financing options.
In a 24 September vote, the draft text was approved with 35 votes in favour and 20 against.
As a next step, the Plenary will adopt the text in the week of 20 October.
The Plenary has adopted the report on Facilitating the financing of investments and reforms to boost European competitiveness and creating a Capital Markets Union (Draghi Report).
The report sets out the EP’s position for the EU’s capital market integration agenda. Led by MEP Aurore Lalucq (S&D/France), it was adopted with 407 votes in favour, 161 against, and 97 abstentions.
Several of the report’s recommendations call on the EC to improve SMEs’ financing conditions, including through facilitated access to public markets and SME Growth Markets, and fostering venture capital investment in smaller companies.
The Plenary has adopted its own initiative report on strengthening the EU Single Market, with 459 votes in favour, 65 against and 90 abstentions. Work on this report was led by MEP Anna-Maja Henriksson (RE/Finland).
The report stressed that the EU is falling behind in global competitiveness due to regulatory fragmentation, poor implementation, and unnecessary administrative burdens, which hinder investment, innovation, and job creation. It underlines that simplifying, without undermining policy objectives, and properly enforcing rules is key to boosting the Single Market, driving economic prosperity, high-quality jobs, skills, environmental standards, and innovation.
By advocating SME-tailored impact assessments, simpler rules and digital tools, the report strengthens the basis for improved competitiveness and easier cross-border growth for SMEs.
France and Germany have unveiled a joint economic agenda, outlining common priorities across energy, industry, digital sovereignty, trade, and regulation, with the goal of strengthening European competitiveness and resilience.
For SMEs, several elements stand out. The agenda calls for streamlining EU and sector-specific legislation, speeding up permits, reducing reporting obligations, and ensuring new rules proportionally reflect SME realities.
The document emphasises that all EU institutions should consider both the SME and small midcap category when designing new legislations and defining their scope. it stresses the importance to rigorously apply the “think small first” principle, calls for reality-checks that help to identify relevant simplification measures and digital- readiness checks that could improve the quality of EU legislation overall – especially for SMEs in particular.
Member states’ representatives have approved the Council’s positions on several EC proposals, which form part of the so-called ‘Omnibus IV’ legislative package. This includes elements on digitalisation and common specifications, as well as the small-midcaps (SMCs) definition.
Definition of SMCs
The original EC proposal defines SMCs as enterprises with:
The Council’s position raises these thresholds to enterprises with:
The idea is to then grant these SMCs a number of legislative alleviations, similar to those already available for SMEs.
This means the Council is ready to start trilogue negotiations with the EP as soon as MEPs adopt their own position. At the time of writing, no timeline has been indicated on the EP’s end.
The survey, published on 21 July, shows that companies continued to report declining interest rates on bank loans, while indicating a slight tightening of other lending conditions. The bank loan financing gap remained stable, with firms reporting that both needs for bank loans and the availability of bank loans were broadly unchanged.
A net 8% of firms reported an increase in turnover over the last three months, up from 6% in the previous survey round, with a net 23% of firms being optimistic about developments in the next quarter, although less so than in the previous quarter.
Firms continued to see a deterioration in their profits (a net 13%, compared with 16% in the previous survey round), with the decline being more widespread among SMEs. The survey also indicates that a net 50% of firms reported rising cost pressures over the past three months, although to a lesser extent than in the previous quarter.
Accountancy Europe’s recommendations are intended to provide inspiration to the EC, which is working on a review of the EU tax legislation with the view of streamlining compliance, removing duplicate reporting obligations and more.
A big part of this exercise should be to reduce administrative burdens, particularly for SMEs. With that in mind, the recommendations emphasise the need for better compliance procedures, as well as reviewing aspects of the EU’s VAT rules given their direct impact on many SMEs across Europe.
