A workshop on the "The Impact of the Crisis on SMEs" was held in the European Parliament in Brussels on 1 February 2010. This document contains the programme, presentations and proceedings of that workshop.

Overall, household debt levels have risen sharply over the past decades in EU Member States. While certain levels of household debts can be beneficial, they can become problematic especially with a sudden, unexpected decrease of incomes or increase of expenditures. The current financial crisis...