EU opens the doors for SMEs: bureaucracy reduced to a minimum!

EU opens the doors for SMEs: bureaucracy reduced to a minimum!

Brüssel, Belgien - The EU Commission presented a new Omnibus package on May 21, 2025, which is aimed at small and medium-sized companies (SMEs). As reports Krone , the primary goal of this initiative is to make Europe more competitive. This should be done by reducing laws and regulations. Companies can benefit from an annual saving of 400 million euros in administrative costs. The innovations include the introduction of a new category for SMEs: The so-called small mid-caps (SMC) include companies with fewer than 750 employees and sales of up to 150 million euros. Around 38,000 European companies should benefit from the new regulations.

The new regulations aim to facilitate compliance with regulations and to release resources for growth in the internal market. Proposed exceptions within the framework of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and in the prospectus regulations for the stock exchange passages are also part of the plan. Under the direction of Ursula von der Leyen, the Commission has the ambitious goal of reducing bureaucracy for companies by 25 % and the reporting obligations for SMEs by 35 %. These reforms should make a noticeable difference in everyday business life.

criticism and concerns

While Economic Minister Wolfgang Hattmannsdorfer (ÖVP) welcomes the initiative, he demands that it will be quick. In contrast, the SPÖ and green skepticism. SPÖ-EU MP Evelyn Regner emphasizes that companies with 750 employees are not comparable to small family businesses and warns of possible disadvantages for smaller actors. Green EU MP Lena Schilling also warns that data protection and environmental standards could be at risk.

In addition, the EU's highest regulatory authority has started revising existing regulations since the beginning of the year. Süddeutsche reports that regulations are to be abolished that were previously considered advantageous, including the European supply chain law and the obligation to report sustainability. With these changes, the Commission pursues the goal of relieving the European economy of reporting obligations and increasing competitiveness.

The way forward

The EU Commission plans an “unprecedented simplification” of existing laws and has announced that several omnibus packages are presented in which several laws are to be changed at the same time. Süddeutsche reports that the work program for 2025 is aimed at reducing bureaucratic hurdles and improving the conditions for small and medium-sized companies. Among other things, there could be facilitations for the duties for sustainability reporting and potentially 80 percent of the companies concerned are released from the costs of the CBAM climate collar.

However, these changes are not free of controversy. While the economy welcomes this deregulation, critics express concerns about the potential setbacks in the existing claims of employee rights and climate neutrality. The new regulations must now be negotiated and approved by the EU Parliament and the EU countries before they can enter into force.