SMEs account for 99% of businesses in Greece.

Omissions

• The MEP's figure for Greece is if anything conservative: the European Commission estimate for 2024 puts SMEs at 99.9% of Greek enterprises (818,747 SMEs), not 99%.
• The same speech claimed SMEs are '90% of the businesses of the European Union', which understates the EU share by roughly 10 percentage points — the correct figure is 99.8% of all EU-27 enterprises (Eurostat structural business statistics; European Commission Annual Report on European SMEs).
• The 99%+ share is a structural feature shared by virtually all EU Member States (EU average 99.8%), so it is not a distinctive feature of the Greek economy and says nothing about the weight of SMEs in Greek value added or employment.
• Data underlying the figure refer to 2023–2024 (the latest available before the 2026-10-21 session date); the OECD/Commission source was published in 2026, i.e. possibly shortly before the session.

Sources

• PrimaryOECD – Financing SMEs and Entrepreneurs 2026: Greece"In 2024, 818,747 enterprises are defined as SMEs, comprising 99.9% of all Greek enterprises, according to estimates from the European Commission"
• PrimaryEurostat – Structural business statistics overview"Of that total, 99.8% were small and medium-sized enterprises, which employed almost two-thirds of the active population in the EU business economy (64%)."
• SecondaryΤο Βήμα (citing European Commission 2023 data) – Η χρηματοδότηση των ΜΜΕ στην Ελλάδα"Σύμφωνα με στοιχεία της Ευρωπαϊκής Επιτροπής (2023), οι ΜμΕ αντιπροσωπεύουν πάνω από το 99% των επιχειρήσεων στον μη χρηματοπιστωτικό τομέα στην Ελλάδα" (According to European Commission data (2023), SMEs represent more than 99% of businesses in the non-financial sector in Greece)