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The "Think Small First" principle, the cornerstone of the EU's Small Business Act, has long been a guiding aspiration for European policymakers. Yet, as SMEunited President Davide Galli powerfully stated at the opening of the event: "Last year, SMEunited presented the Vision 2040 by Crafts and SMEs. But a vision alone is not enough. We need action. This is why 'Think Small First' matters. At SMEunited, we contribute to putting that principle into practice."

The event brought together SME representatives, EU institutions, and sector associations to move the conversation from declaration to deliver, demanding that legislation affecting Europe's 26 million small businesses be designed from the SME perspective from the very outset.

Why This Matters for CLIMMAR 

CLIMMAR represents arround 15,000 enterprises and 159,000 employees in the agricultural machinery and equipment dealer sector across Europe. The vast majority of our member companies are small and medium-sized businesses: family-owned dealerships, regional service providers, and specialised repair workshops. They are the backbone of rural economies and the essential link between equipment manufacturers and Europe's farming communities. For CLIMMAR, the "Think Small First" principle is not an abstract concept, it is a daily reality. Our members face regulatory complexity, administrative burdens, and compliance requirements that are often designed with large corporations in mind. Whether it is type-approval regulations, environmental requirements, digital reporting obligations, or labour law changes, the impact on a small dealership of 10 employees is fundamentally different from that on a multinational company.

Our membership in SMEunited gives CLIMMAR direct access to this advocacy platform. It means that the concerns of agricultural machinery dealers, often a sector overlooked in broad EU policy debates, are fed into the wider SME agenda and amplified at the highest levels of EU decision-making.