Political Debate: How can the EU better address its political messages to OPCs and the self-employed?

In Europe, solo-entrepreneurship is a massive reality: about 15 million One-Person Companies (OPCs) — roughly 60% of all SMEs — and around 30 million self-employed individuals, who are not counted as SMEs but form a vital part of Europe’s workforce. Together, they represent tens of millions of Europeans whose work sustains themselves, their families, and their communities. Yet, despite this weight, they remain politically underrepresented. In Brussels, economic debates often highlight start-ups, hidden champions, or the Mittelstand. By contrast, OPCs and self-employed individuals — though numerically dominant — are rarely addressed directly in political language. They are either hidden within statistics or treated as a residual group without clear political identity. This gap is not only about policies but also about communication and miscommunication. EU institutions often speak in abstract, technical terms that do not reach those who work alone. Political messages rarely explain what EU actions mean for the self-employed consultant, the one-person IT company, or the local tradesman. As a result, solo-entrepreneurs see little of themselves in the European political debate. The challenge, therefore, is how to make these groups visible, approachable, and engaged. How can Brussels shape its political language so that solo-entrepreneurs recognize themselves in it? Through which partners and channels can communication actually reach them? And how can political debate avoid speaking “about them” and start speaking “to them”? These are the questions at the heart of this discussion. The goal is not to present ready-made solutions, but to open a political conversation on how Europe can better address and connect with the millions of solo-entrepreneurs who remain, until now, the missing voice in EU economic policy.