Abstract. Romania has ended a high growth cycle. The world economic crisis is worsening with every passing day and Romania increasingly feels the effects of this economic downturn. The sector of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) is the most dynamic in the Romanian economy, but it will also be one of the first to be hit by the global financial crisis the ripples of which have reached Romania as well. SMEs are now considered the most sensitive sector and worst affected by the economic climate. The economic crisis has prompted the member states of the European Union, too, to adopt packages of measures to counteract the effect of the crisis. Here below I will exemplify with the cases of Romania, the Italian Republic, the Federal Republic of Germany, the Slovak Republic and the Republic of Hungary.

Keywords: economic crisis; SMEs; Romania; the Italian Republic; the Federal Republic of Germany; the Slovak Republic; the Republic of Hungary; anticrisis measures; anti-crisis plan; economic recession; G20; the European Union; International Monetary Fund (IMF).