*  *  *  I wish to thank Annalisa Ferrando, Petra Köhler-Ulbrich and Balázs Zsámboki for their inputs. I remain solely responsible for the opinions contained herein. Why SMEs are special Small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) are special.
They are the backbone of the euro area economy: they constitute about 98% of all euro area firms, it employs around threequarters of the euro area’s employees, and they generate around 60% of value added.1 These figures happen to be even higher in those jurisdictions which have been most affected by the crisis. SMEs are also specific in their financing structure.