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2017 is a major election year in Europe. Election gains of populist parties could undermine support for European cooperation and threaten reforms.

The use of credit terms for B2B sales by respondents in Western Europe decreased slightly compared to 2016, stressing the challenging business environment.

There has been a modest increase in the percentage of overdue B2B invoices of Austrian respondents in 2017 (37.4%), compared to one year ago (36.3%).

Despite a strong aversion to granting trade credit to B2B customers, Belgium saw a modest increase in the use of credit- based transactions (31.8%).

The percentages of B2B sales on credit terms in Denmark (56.4%) are, as in previous years, significantly higher than in Western Europe overall (38.8%).

In 2017, 29.3% of B2B sales in France were made on credit, far less than the regional average of 38.9%. This is similar to what was observed last year.

In 2017, the total value of overdue B2B invoices in Germany (40.6%) is in line with the regional average (41.0%) and almost at the 2016 level (40.0%).

Compared to one year ago (31.5%), Greece has seen an increase of almost seven percentage points in the percentage of overdue B2B invoices in 2017 (38.6%).

After Denmark (56.4%) and Greece (52.1%), Ireland has the highest average of sales made on credit terms (48.2%) in the Western European countries surveyed.

Despite a decrease in 2017, the average value of B2B sales on credit in Italy (42.5%) is still higher than that registered in Western Europe (38.8%).