Publication

This paper examines the initiatives in place to support the access of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to financing in 2012 in Germany, France, the UK, Italy and Spain. The first section examines the financing gap between SMEs and larger firms and how it has widened during Europe's economic crisis. The second section looks at the SMEs in the five countries and the public and market-based initiatives that have attempted to overcome this gap. The author argues that these initiatives might prove effective in the short term, but that they fail to address long-term sustainability issues.