Intergenerational Economy: How Europe could use experience

SPRING CONFERENCE 2026

INTERGENERATIONAL SOLIDARITY

28–30 April 2026

European Youth Centre
Zivatar utca 1–3, Budapest

 “Intergenerational Economy: How Europe could use experience to strengthen entrepreneurship and boost innovation and competitiveness”

Statement  Michael Jäger, President of the European Taxpayers’ Association (TAE)

At its core, this is about incentives – from the state, but also from businesses – to preserve knowledge and businesses, to drive innovation forward, and to motivate people to become entrepreneurs and take risks, rather than simply looking for a job as an employee.

It is about intergenerational entrepreneurship. How to start a business, how to protect oneself, learning from positive and negative experiences. Not old versus young or big versus small, but the creation of win-win situations.

Entrepreneurship needs the right conditions to flourish, much like flowers or plants. It is about helping both human capital – that is, people – and the business itself to make the right decisions at every stage of the life cycle.

I am an entrepreneur myself, having started a sports goods shop whilst still a student, and later working in consultancy.

Key points for me, drawing on my own experience as a business owner and my experience as a representative of taxpayers’ interests, are:

• Advice and support for young entrepreneurs
• Facilitating business takeovers and succession,
  because it must not be solely about start-ups
  --> The issue of inheritance tax and gift tax
• Access to capital, financing and venture capital
  --> Basel III may well be well-intentioned – it involves stricter requirements for equity capital and liquidity to counter excessive debt – but it clearly makes access to capital more difficult
  --> In some countries, legal regulations also discourage shareholdings; in Germany, for instance, a stake of just one per cent is considered a significant shareholding
• Improving transparency regarding funding opportunities
  - Type and scope
  - regarding legal requirements; for instance, as is the case in Germany, one may have to submit applications before setting up a business and, for example, no longer be eligible for a start-up loan after incorporation
• Removal of trade barriers
  --> Nationally, but also at EU level and internationally: key issue is the VAT return, which must be filed in every EU country where sales take place – including online
• Reducing bureaucracy and introducing exemptions for entrepreneurs
  --> Tax relief and incentives for entrepreneurs to build up equity capital; for example, in Estonia, reinvested profits remain tax-free as long as the capital remains in the company, but taxes become due as soon as a distribution is made
  --> or tax exemptions for a specific period, for certain key sectors, rather than distributing subsidies indiscriminately
• Improving the work-life balance for entrepreneurs
  --> a particular problem for women or single parents with children

 At its core, this is about strengthening the resilience of businesses, across all generations.

But it is also important to understand that being an entrepreneur means taking risks; neither the state nor society can relieve companies of all risks. Failure is part of the process – that is, bankruptcies and setbacks! What is crucial, however, is to learn from them and get back on your feet. Many companies that are successful today failed on their first attempt or faced bankruptcy; had they simply given up, their companies would not exist today. These include Walt Disney, Henry Ford, Milton Hershey, Steve Jobs, Richard Branson, Elon Musk, James Dyson and John Paul DeJoria (Paul Mitchell Hair Care).

From the taxpayers’ perspective, it is important that the state does everything it can to reduce the burden on businesses and the self-employed. This means less bureaucracy, as well as low levels of taxes and duties, and recognising that this concerns all businesses, not just start-ups, which is what the EU now aims to promote (EU Inc.).

To conclude, I would like to summarise the key points once again
Given demographic trends, we cannot afford to lose well-run companies simply because there is no successor. Furthermore, there are not enough successful start-ups. This must change:

1. We must simplify the handover process both mentally and legally so that young entrepreneurs can take over the foundations laid by the ‘old guard’ and modernise them using the digital tools mentioned by Nadine. This requires targeted advice and a reduction in tax barriers.
2. Retaining capital through incentives in Europe. Europe excels in research but lags in scaling and implementation. Access to capital remains our Achilles’ heel. It is simply not enough to grant subsidies; we need more private venture capital and better equity formation. We need a ‘Capital Markets Union’ that works for even the smallest players. Furthermore, we must improve transparency; many SMEs are unaware that billions in EU funding, such as the EIC Accelerator or regional ERDF grants, are available. We need a one-stop shop for funding information.
3. Cut red tape. Currently, an SME owner in Europe spends an average of 17 days a year dealing with tax and red tape alone. We therefore call for a rigorous “SME test” for all new EU legislation and a “one-in, two-out” rule to reduce administrative burdens. We need specific exemptions for micro-entrepreneurs; let them grow first before we overwhelm them with reporting obligations.
4. Strengthen competitiveness through tax incentives. To remain competitive, we must reward risk-taking. This means tax relief for those who reinvest their profits in research and development, and incentives for those who hire staff. If the tax burden on labour is too high, young founders cannot afford the talent they need to grow.
5. Redefining life as an entrepreneur. Finally, we must address the ‘burden on founders’. If we want to make entrepreneurship attractive to a diverse new generation, we must improve work-life balance. This is not just a question of lifestyle, but concerns social security. Young founders deserve the same safety nets, the same mental health support and the same pension security as their employees. However, this should not be achieved through legal obligations to contribute to state social security systems, but through incentives and the opportunity to build up equity – in other words, to make their own provisions – because every euro taken from businesses is then missing for future investment.

If we get the framework conditions, the capital, the bureaucracy and the risk-return ratio right, young people will take care of the rest. Our job is to remove obstacles and clear the way so that they can get started.

Budapest, April 29, 2026