Evaluation support study on the EU’s framework regulating State aid for access to finance for SMEs applicable in 2014-2020

Lear, in consortium with Sheppard Mullin and DIW Berlin, was appointed by the European Commission to carry out a study seeking to evaluate the relevance and effectiveness of the rules included in the General Block Exemption Regulation and in the Risk Finance Guidelines, that the Commission set out for Member States to provide aid to Small and Medium Enterprises to facilitate their access to finance. The study relied on: (i) a comprehensive literature review; (ii) interviews with selected stakeholders, i.e. beneficiaries that received support under SME access to finance measures, financial intermediaries involved in risk finance measures, and European and national associations representing SMEs as well as investors active in the SME finance market; (iii) five relevant case studies of national schemes implemented through the General Block Exemption Regulation or the Risk Finance Guidelines.

Final report is avalaible here