POSITION | MITTTELSTAND-POLICY | SMALL MID-CAPS
8 October 2025
Small mid-cap companies (SMC): Leverage the potential! Strengthening industrial Mittelstand in Europe
8 October 2025
Context On the basis of intensive preparations and comprehensible considerations, the European Commission proposed in May 2025 to introduce a separate category of "small mid-cap companies" (SMC) to complement the category of "micro, small and medium-sized enterprises" (SMEs). This is to be expressly welcomed in the interests of a tangible EU Mittelstand-policy. The proposal has gained political momentum thanks, among other things, to the European Commission's SME relief package of September 20231 and the stirring analyses and clear recommendations contained in Mario Draghi's report on European competitiveness and Enrico Letta's report on the EU internal market. Scientific studies from a wide variety of sources have measured the quantity / landscape of SMCs across Europe and – above all and unanimously – highlighted their special qualities. Noteworthy examples include the findings of the AIT2, the EIB3 and the IW Cologne4. In and from Germany, the Federal Government5, the BDI6 and all kinds of industry associations have promoted an SMC category to enable targeted support for a specific category of companies in addition to SMEs. Despite differing proposals on the design of the thresholds, there was a common conviction that differentiated structures of industries and companies guarantee dynamic competitive advantages for
1 COM 2023/535 final 2 Austrian
Institute of Technology: "Study to map, measure and portray the EU mid-cap landscape", Luxembourg 2022 (commissioned by the European Commission) 3 European Investment Bank (EIB): “Hidden champions, missed opportunities – mid caps crucial role in Europe’s economic transition”, Brussels 2024 (in collaboration with European Policy Centre EPC) 4 German Economic Institute (IW Cologne): “Mid caps and family businesses: How strong is the large SME sector in Germany”, Cologne 2024 (= IW Analysis 157) 5 German Federal Government: Statement on the public consultation on the review of the European SME definition, Berlin 2018 6 Federation of German Industries (BDI): "Making the European SME definition future-proof", Berlin 2018 and "Introducing mid-caps as a business category to complement SMEs", Berlin 2023
Fabian Wehnert | SMEs and Family Businesses | T: +49 30 2028-1470 |f.wehnert@bdi.eu | www.bdi.eu