The SME Performance Review 2012 report shows that Europe's Small and Medium Sized enterprises (SMEs) continue to strive for recovery. According to the Review, further policy is needed to help SMEs in recovery. The report also argues that the creation of more such enterprises should be an integral part of any growth strategy and suggests appropriate policies measures.

The European Commission released results of the SME Performance Review 2012 report, together with fact sheets describing SMEs' progress in all EU Members States. The review shows that despite the challenging environment, SMEs stood their ground as the backbone of the European economy, accounting for more than 98% of all enterprises with some 20.7 million firms and more than 87 million people employees. It is also estimated that SMEs account for 67% of total employment and 58% of gross value added (GVA). The 2011 review confirmed that SMEs remain the EU's economic backbone.

The report also shows that SMEs performance varies considerably between Member States. SMEs in Austria and Germany did particularly well. Their SME sectors are the only ones which exceeded their pre-crisis 2008 levels of both gross value added (GVA) and employment. However, in the majority of Member States, SMEs have so far been unable to bounce back to their pre-crisis levels. On a more positive note, there is evidence that an increasing number of Member States have recently managed to turn the corner, with their SMEs once again starting to add employment and grow their business — pointing to a more sustained turnaround in the future.

The number of national policy measures in support of SMEs has risen constantly and dynamically over the past years, with 38% more measures being taken in 2011 than in 2010, according to the The report also stressed that the creation of more such enterprises should be an integral part of any growth strategy and suggests appropriate policies measures.