European Commission - Speech [Check Against Delivery] Keynote speech by Commissioner Dombrovskis at the European Forum for Family Business Brussels, 29 September 2026 Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for the invitation to join you this evening. Family businesses hold a special place in the European economy. You reinvest in your communities, you keep jobs local, and you take a long-term view of risk and r...
European Commission - Speech [Check Against Delivery] Keynote speech by Commissioner Dombrovskis at the European Forum for Family Business Brussels, 29 September 2026 Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for the invitation to join you this evening. Family businesses hold a special place in the European economy. You reinvest in your communities, you keep jobs local, and you take a long-term view of risk and responsibility. Many family businesses are also small and medium-sized enterprises, part of the backbone of our economy. SMEs make up 99.8% of all businesses in the EU. They employ almost 90 million people. And they create more than half of the added value in our economy. They drive Europe's job creation, innovation and competitiveness. So, at a time when Europe's growth has been too low for too long, we need the dynamism and foresight of family businesses more than ever. This raises some important questions. Are we serving those businesses as well as they are serving us? What can policymakers do to help them succeed? And what should we prioritise to make a real, tangible difference on the ground, so that running a business day in, day out becomes a little easier? The easiest way to find out is to ask. That is exactly what the Foundation for Family Businesses set out to do in a recent survey. They spoke to 2,100 managers across seven countries: Germany, France, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Poland and Sweden. Around four in five of them run family businesses of all sizes. And the results are striking. 83% percent said regulatory burdens are holding back their investments. Not in marginal areas, but in the very things that drive competitiveness: digitalisation and IT, expansion into new markets, their own infrastructure, and the training of their people. Let that sink in. More than eight out of ten businesses are telling us that the rules meant to support them are, in practice, standing in the way of their future. For family businesses especially, the costs are simply too high. A large listed company can afford a compliance department. Too often, a family business cannot. So, the problem is clear. Excessive and overlapping regulation imposes real costs. It deters investment and diverts capital and energy away from innovation. We want our businesses to grow, innovate and succeed, not to be strangled by red tape. That is where our simplification agenda comes in. The overarching objective of which is straightforward: our rules should work for citizens, for businesses and for growth, not against them. We have set ourselves a clear target: to cut administrative burden by 25% by the end of this mandate, and by 35% for SMEs. And we are making good progress. We have now tabled twelve major Omnibus simplification proposals, as well as other simplification initiatives, across a broad range of policy areas. These proposals have the potential to save at least €17 billion in administrative costs yearly for European businesses and national administrations. Our businesses can redirect those savings away from compliance and towards investment, innovation, and expansion. The activities that create high- quality jobs, make us more competitive, and more prosperous. Let me give you a concrete example of the kind of change that matters to many family businesses. Our first major simplification Omnibus became law in February. It simplifies corporate sustainability reporting and due diligence. It reduces the reporting burden and limits the trickle-down effect of obligations on smaller companies in the value chain. It will free thousands of companies from complex reporting requirements, protect smaller firms, and refocus due diligence where it can make a real difference. This shows that we do not have to choose between our objectives and our competitiveness. Smart rules can achieve both. We also want these changes to be real, not cosmetic. That is why we are engaging directly with businesses through implementation dialogues and reality checks. The Commission has already held more than 80 implementation dialogues, with over 1,600 stakeholders from a very wide range of sectors. We will continue this intensive engagement with those who navigate our rules every day. But let me be clear. We need to do more. Our simplification efforts will continue throughout the entire mandate. Our simplification agenda is not all about looking back. We have also changed how we will approach lawmaking and regulation in future. Our path towards a simpler, clearer and better enforced EU rulebook centres on five main pillars of action. Firstly, we are embracing ‘simplicity by design'. This means designing proposals that are subject to regulatory discipline. In other words, we only act where EU-level action is necessary, applying the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality rigorously. It also means designing proposals that are leaner, more accessible, easy to implement and that can be properly enforced. Secondly, we are strengthening the EU's better regulation system, which is already an international benchmark. We are enhancing transparency, stakeholder engagement and efficiency. Thirdly, we launched a bold new Action Plan to bring order into the existing, and large, stock of EU legislation. Under the Action Plan on Regulatory Deep Cleaning, the Commission is tackling fragmented rules, inconsistent and overlapping provisions, and reducing complexity across 12 key areas. Fourthly, we are tackling the issue where Member States add stricter or wider rules than required by EU law, thereby creating barriers, increasing costs, and fragmenting the Single Market. Our ‘Pact Against Gold Plating' is crucial because Member States must also play their part to cut red tape. Finally, we are committed to faster and more robust enforcement of EU law. Even the best rules fail to achieve their intended impact when implementation is fragmented, delayed, or inconsistent across Member States. All of this must be seen in a broader context. In a challenging and unpredictable world, Europe needs to sharpen its competitive edge. That is the only way to build our resilience and secure our prosperity in the long term. When businesses feel the benefit of simplification, the European economy will too. Even small changes can scale fast. A few hours saved for one company may seem modest. But multiplied across hundreds of thousands of businesses, the savings add up quickly. Applied systematically, they compound and strengthen Europe's competitive position as a whole. Ladies and gentlemen, the Commission cannot deliver simplification alone. For our proposals to have their intended impact, the European Parliament and the Council must match their original ambition. And Member States must play their part in implementing changes at national level. Every rule we remove in Brussels can be undone if it is replaced by new requirements at home. We must all pull in the same direction to make our regulatory system clearer, simpler and smarter. You have a role to play here too. I encourage you to keep sending us concrete examples, and passing messages to all of your interlocutors. Where a reporting requirement duplicates another, where a requirement is too onerous, or where a deadline makes no sense in practice, tell us. Your experience on the ground is the best guide we have. Ladies and gentlemen, to conclude. Family businesses understand better than anyone what it means to build for the long term. Europe too must think of the future. The decisions we make today will have a profound and lasting impact. We must get the fundamentals right. Our task is to give you the space to do exactly that: to invest, to innovate and to grow. So that what today's family businesses pass on to the next generation is even stronger than what they inherited. Thank you. I look forward to our discussion. SPEECH/26/2012 <@rel_link@>
Speech Brief