SME-related country-specific recommendations

The importance of the SME policy has also been reflected in the European Semester. Since its introduction in 2010, the Council has been adopting country-specific recommendations (CSRs) annually, with the Commission assessing Member States’ progress in addressing the challenges identified. In 2019 and 2020, Member States received recommendations regarding their respective SME sectors, which needed to be addressed through measures laid down in countries’ National Recovery and Resilience Plans (NRRPs) in order to benefit from Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) funding (see next sections). Figure 1 shows the number of SME-related recommendations issued to the Member States between 2019 and 2022.