Latest Eurobarometer survey reveals key barriers to cross-border growth for SMEs

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Border Focal P…
3 July 2025 - updated 1 year ago
Eurobarometer

The European Commission published the latest version of the Eurobarometer report, no. 559 on “Startups, Scaleups and Entrepreneurship”, conducted between February and April 2025. The report provides a detailed overview of how SMEs operate and grow within and beyond national borders, through a survey with over 17.000 enterprises from all 27 EU Member States as well as 11 non-EU countries, of which 12.653 are SMEs in the EU.

At the outset, the report finds that 70% of EU SMEs operate only within their own country. About 26% export goods or services to other EU Member States, while 10% engage in trade with non-EU countries. Scaleups are marginally more active internationally than startups and other SMEs, but the majority remain domestically focused.

Among SMEs already exporting to other EU countries, the main barriers to cross-border growth include:

  • Understanding different business environments (33%), including regulatory and language differences,
  • Access to information on rules and requirements (30%),
  • Taxation issues (29%), and
  • Business authorisations (28%).

Startups reported greater difficulty than other SMEs in navigating different business environments, with 53% identifying this as a challenge, compared to 28% of scaleups.

SMEs that do not currently operate across borders also reported similar obstacles. These include difficulties understanding foreign markets (20%), accessing legal and procedural information (20%) and dealing with taxation (20%).

When asked about specific difficulties scaling operations in other Member States, SMEs cited:

  • Taxation and VAT (30%);
  • Permitting and authorisations (28%);
  • Posting of workers (17%);
  • Recognition of professional qualifications (13%);
  • Waste shipment rules (8%).

These findings suggest that while many SMEs are eager to expand, regulatory complexity remains a major deterrent to scaling cross-border operations.

The results of the survey are particularly relevant to border regions, where geographic proximity offers natural opportunities for cross-border trade. However, the report indicates that legal fragmentation, lack of information, and administrative hurdles continue to inhibit SME growth in these areas.

The full report is available on the European Commission’s Eurobarometer portal.
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Eurobarometer SMEs cross-border business