Family businesses in Europe Hope for economic growth in 2026

Most family businesses in Germany, France, Italy and Spain are hoping for more economic development this year, according to a previously published study.

According to the demand of the Fundação para Familiares Businesses, carried out by Edelman Data & Intelligence in collaboration with the ifo institute, “in our four economically strongest countries in Europe, more than two in two (55%) of the family businesses surveyed hope that their business situation will be better than in the first half of 2026”.

I also hear that “less than a third hope the situation will remain the same” and “only 13% in Germany hope the situation will get worse”.

“Businesses are more optimistic about the relationship for the next five years,” says Klaus Wohlrabe, head chef at Ifo’s Fisheries, who also hopes that “two-thirds of family businesses in Germany, France, Spain and Italy hope for economic development in melore”.

The proportion of companies hoping for better business development in the long term is 66% in Germany, 72% in Spain, 67% in Italy and 63% in France.

For two-thirds of family businesses, the most important EU reform to improve its competitiveness is making it faster and easier to cut red tape and approval procedures, either now or in the future.

“Now that family businesses in Europe have been criticized in relation to many bureaucratic projects from the EU for their own competitiveness, mostly the failures or problems from the EU in the last five years have been equally positive,” says Wohlrabe.

We also examined the charges family businesses face for their own competitiveness over the next five years, looking at how often or how often energy prices have risen, followed by the loss of skilled workers and cyber security charges.

There will be geopolitical risks, tariffs and trade barriers, as well as various aspects of regulation and bureaucracy.

In Alemangas in particular, our bureaucratic customers are mentioned more often than ever in our other countries.

The survey was conducted between May 28 and July 7, 2025, with a total of just under 2,000 family businesses analyzed and each of the two four countries represented with 500 businesses searched.