The European Commission monitors developments in SMEs’ access to finance through the joint European Commission/European Central Bank Survey on the access to finance of enterprises (SAFE).
Since 2008, the European Commission and the European Central Bank (ECB) have collaborated on the Survey on the Access to Finance of Enterprises (SAFE). /growth/file/3457_lv2018_safe_infographic.png
The Commission published the first survey in 2009. In 2013, it became an annual publication. The SAFE survey covers all EU countries.
The European Central Bank publishes the SAFE survey every six months. This survey only covers countries in the Eurozone.
In 2005 and 2006, the Commission published two Flash Eurobarometer surveys (ad-hoc, thematic telephone interviews) on SMEs' access to finance in the EU.
The first survey covered the first 15 EU countries (Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, Finland, Sweden and the United Kingdom).
The second covered the ten EU countries that joined in 2004 (Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia).
The same questionnaire was used for both surveys.