In central Germany, a couple in their mid-sixties running a travel agency is seeing retirement drift at least a decade into the future. In a small town in southern Italy, a well-known restaurant is closing for good. And on France’s northwestern coast, a bistro owner is concerned the majority of restaurants around him will simply disappear.
The economic damage wrought by the coronavirus is clear in countless stories across Europe, from business owners furiously fighting to keep their firms afloat to those who see no hope. In France, where more than half of small firms fear bankruptcy, the crisis led to a public showdown on live television between entrepreneurs and the country’s finance minister.
… if the emergency strategies don't work out, we won't need recovery strategies for SMEs anymore because there won't be any left. It would be an economic massacre.
Even with massive government financial support, countries face the prospect of countless businesses going under, destroying livelihoods and jobs, as well as weakening a key part of the economy. Europe’s 25 million small and medium sized enterprises – officially defined as having fewer than 250 staff – employ more than 90 million people.
“We can and should even massively support these businesses if only because they represent a huge source of job creation,” says Nadine Levratto, a research director at the French National Centre for Scientific Research. “They really are a precious public good.”
Often with low margins and few reserves, small businesses are more vulnerable than bigger groups. SMEunited, an employers’ association representing SMEs at a European level, showed in a recent survey that about 90 per cent report being hit by the pandemic, with an EU-wide average 50 per cent loss in turnover.
Country-level data is similarly grim: France’s small business federation CPME says 55 per cent of small firms are concerned about bankruptcy, and a group representing Irish SMEs says close to 30 per cent won’t survive if the situation doesn’t improve within the next two months.
In Weimar, Germany, Guenter Conrad and his wife have scrapped plans to hand their travel agency to a successor after running it for three decades. With no money coming in, he says the mounting debt they’ll have to take on will mean closing one of their two shops, cutting staff, and juggling most of the workload themselves to make their business viable.
Germany has promised unlimited loan guarantees for struggling small businesses, alongside €50 billion (Dhxxbn) of free cash injections. In Italy, subsidies and loans have proven harder to come by, and some don’t see a point in fighting on.
They include Mariagrazia Ferrandino, a restaurant owner in the southern town of Apricena. She plans to keep her business shut and apply for unemployment support.
“I don’t need another mortgage,” she wrote in an open letter to Italy’s prime minister, Giuseppe Conte.
The crisis raises grim questions for policymakers – often keen to defend “the little guy” and hold up SMEs as the backbone of the economy, but hesitant to ramp up more debt and ultimately put the bill on the taxpayer.
In France, the dilemma came to a head one night on national television.
A gym owner, a construction entrepreneur and a Michelin-starred chef bombarded Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire with questions, arguing that many small businesses will go bust if they are forced to pay rents or loans.
Le Maire responded the government would consider tax forgiveness instead of just delays, but warned the cost for the state would be huge.
“We will need to be able to help businesses with capital, what we call their solvency,” Bank of France Governor Francois Villeroy de Galhau said on Thursday. “But that will have to be done with much more selectivity.”
Erasing debts could be justified both in terms of protecting jobs and the economy. One question is whether governments want to set conditions.
In the US, for instance, small companies are able to receive forgivable loans that convert into grants if at least 75 per cent of the funding is spent on payroll.
Lucia Cusmano, who leads the SME and Entrepreneurship Division at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Centre for Entrepreneurship, says the scale of the challenge and the speed needed in interventions is such that conditionality is difficult to apply. But even with broad support, “some destruction of business as a result of the crisis is inevitable".
A number of countries have begun easing tough restrictions, but the experience from China, where lockdown rules have been loosened since March, shows consumers are reluctant to go out and spend. Monthly revenue of Chinese SMEs are down about 60 per cent from a year ago, according to a study by the PBC School of Finance at Tsinghua University.
That’s a worry for retailers, restaurants and bars. Hubert Jan, owner of the Bistrot Chez Hubert on the south Brittany coast in France, is also concerned about rules imposing bigger distances between diners.
There will be no point in restaurants reopening if they can’t break even at half the normal capacity, he expects. “We might find ourselves with a catastrophe of 60 per cent of restaurants disappearing from one day to the next.”
But despite the threat that will linger even after restrictions are lifted, SMEunited Secretary General Veronique Willems is hopeful that many companies will show resilience, and is calling on governments to do their utmost to contain the pandemic.
“We are now discussing recovery strategies already, but if the emergency strategies don’t work out, we won’t need recovery strategies for SMEs anymore because there won’t be any left,” she said. “It would be an economic massacre.”
David Haye record
Total fights: 32
Wins: 28
Wins by KO: 26
Losses: 4
In numbers: China in Dubai
The number of Chinese people living in Dubai: An estimated 200,000
Number of Chinese people in International City: Almost 50,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2018/19: 120,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2010: 20,000
Percentage increase in visitors in eight years: 500 per cent
The%20specs
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EEngine%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%201.8-litre%204-cyl%20turbo%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPower%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E190hp%20at%205%2C200rpm%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETorque%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20320Nm%20from%201%2C800-5%2C000rpm%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETransmission%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESeven-speed%20dual-clutch%20auto%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFuel%20consumption%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%206.7L%2F100km%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPrice%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20From%20Dh111%2C195%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EOn%20sale%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ENow%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The specs
Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
Power: 579hp
Torque: 859Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh825,900
On sale: Now
GAC GS8 Specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 248hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 400Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 9.1L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh149,900
LIVING IN...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
The biog
Simon Nadim has completed 7,000 dives.
The hardest dive in the UAE is the German U-boat 110m down off the Fujairah coast.
As a child, he loved the documentaries of Jacques Cousteau
He also led a team that discovered the long-lost portion of the Ines oil tanker.
If you are interested in diving, he runs the XR Hub Dive Centre in Fujairah
F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
Tips to stay safe during hot weather
- Stay hydrated: Drink plenty of fluids, especially water. Avoid alcohol and caffeine, which can increase dehydration.
- Seek cool environments: Use air conditioning, fans, or visit community spaces with climate control.
- Limit outdoor activities: Avoid strenuous activity during peak heat. If outside, seek shade and wear a wide-brimmed hat.
- Dress appropriately: Wear lightweight, loose and light-coloured clothing to facilitate heat loss.
- Check on vulnerable people: Regularly check in on elderly neighbours, young children and those with health conditions.
- Home adaptations: Use blinds or curtains to block sunlight, avoid using ovens or stoves, and ventilate living spaces during cooler hours.
- Recognise heat illness: Learn the signs of heat exhaustion and heat stroke (dizziness, confusion, rapid pulse, nausea), and seek medical attention if symptoms occur.
THE CLOWN OF GAZA
Director: Abdulrahman Sabbah
Starring: Alaa Meqdad
Rating: 4/5
The biog:
Languages: Arabic, Farsi, Hindi, basic Russian
Favourite food: Pizza
Best food on the road: rice
Favourite colour: silver
Favourite bike: Gold Wing, Honda
Favourite biking destination: Canada
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
Power: 819hp
Torque: 678Nm at 7,250rpm
Price: From Dh1,700,000
Available: Now
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
RESULTS
1.45pm: Maiden Dh75,000 1,400m
Winner: Dirilis Ertugrul, Fabrice Veron (jockey), Ismail Mohammed (trainer)
2.15pm: Handicap Dh90,000 1,400m
Winner: Kidd Malibu, Sandro Paiva, Musabah Al Muhairi
2.45pm: Maiden Dh75,000 1,000m
Winner: Raakezz, Tadhg O’Shea, Nicholas Bachalard
3.15pm: Handicap Dh105,000 1,200m
Winner: Au Couer, Sean Kirrane, Satish Seemar
3.45pm: Maiden Dh75,000 1,600m
Winner: Rayig, Pat Dobbs, Doug Watson
4.15pm: Handicap Dh105,000 1,600m
Winner: Chiefdom, Royston Ffrench, Salem bin Ghadayer
4.45pm: Handicap Dh80,000 1,800m
Winner: King’s Shadow, Richard Mullen, Satish Seemar
Tearful appearance
Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday.
Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow.
She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.
A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.
INFO
Types of bank fraud
1) Phishing
Fraudsters send an unsolicited email that appears to be from a financial institution or online retailer. The hoax email requests that you provide sensitive information, often by clicking on to a link leading to a fake website.
2) Smishing
The SMS equivalent of phishing. Fraudsters falsify the telephone number through “text spoofing,” so that it appears to be a genuine text from the bank.
3) Vishing
The telephone equivalent of phishing and smishing. Fraudsters may pose as bank staff, police or government officials. They may persuade the consumer to transfer money or divulge personal information.
4) SIM swap
Fraudsters duplicate the SIM of your mobile number without your knowledge or authorisation, allowing them to conduct financial transactions with your bank.
5) Identity theft
Someone illegally obtains your confidential information, through various ways, such as theft of your wallet, bank and utility bill statements, computer intrusion and social networks.
6) Prize scams
Fraudsters claiming to be authorised representatives from well-known organisations (such as Etisalat, du, Dubai Shopping Festival, Expo2020, Lulu Hypermarket etc) contact victims to tell them they have won a cash prize and request them to share confidential banking details to transfer the prize money.
