It is a great pleasure to have the opportunity to speak to you today. At the ECB we care deeply about connecting with small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), since they are the foundation of the European economy. SMEs make up 99.8% of all non-financial companies in the EU, provide 66.6% of jobs and generate 56.4% of added value.[ 1 ] It is decisions by companies like yours to invest, hire and innovate that put the European economy on a path to growth. But in Germany, being part of the Mittelstand has a special quality that is about much more than the firm’s size. It is about the philosophy of how to do business ... (full story)