Small and medium-sized businesses and family-owned companies have often been rooted in rural areas for generations. Inadequate infrastructure and a shortage of skilled workers are putting pressure on local businesses, employees, and their families. The overall conditions must become noticeably more attractive—for work, housing, and daily life. It is also in society’s best interest to give rural areas a new boost and create new incentives for people to stay and move there.

The current EU definition of micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) does not adequately reflect the unique characteristics of Germany’s medium-sized businesses and family-owned companies. It is long overdue to set appropriate thresholds for workforce size and financial metrics and to take qualitative criteria into account. It would also be helpful to view “mid-caps” as a supplementary category and to incorporate them into policies for medium-sized businesses.

As a sixth-generation family entrepreneur and Chairman of the BDI/BDA-Mittelstand- Committee, Hans-Toni Junius is a convinced European. One year before the European elections, he describes what he perceives and expects from Brussels. At the same time, he calls on SMEs to clearly underline the advantages of the EU within their companies and to make a bold commitment to Europe.

In its economic policy, the EU assumes a clear distinction between small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and large enterprises. However, the industrial sector in particular is characterized by larger mid-sized companies. Klaus-Heiner Röhl, senior economist at the Cologne Institute for Economic Research, believes this fact should be given greater consideration by including mid-caps in the SME definition.