Romanians' expectations have worsened in five indicators, namely business milieu confidence, global business development, workforce, challenges faced, national sales and export expectations for 2026, compared to 2025, shows a survey published on Monday.

According to the Economic Eurochambres 2026 (EES2026) survey, entrepreneurs are struggling to recover after several difficult years, shows a press release from the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Romania (CCIR).

The research was conducted based on the responses of 41,090 enterprises from 28 European countries, including Romania.

The possibility of Europe's economic recovery depends on the commitment of the European Union and national governments to address the challenges related to the workforce, administrative burdens and barriers to the single market, the cited source says.

'The main challenge mentioned was burdensome regulations, for the second consecutive year. The positive results reflected in the EES2026 indicate falling inflation, lower consumer prices and relatively stronger domestic demand compared to last year. However, current challenges - such as high labor costs, complex and burdensome European Union regulations and geopolitical uncertainty - are expected to continue to affect employment and investment in particular,' the survey authors say.

The Eurochambres recommendations aim to promote digitalization and minimize administrative procedures applicable to companies by using artificial intelligence infrastructure to simplify business, with a minimum of rules applicable to SMEs for digital infrastructures, in order to free up investment capacity, time and resources, the document also states.

It is also necessary to identify opportunities for Europe to trade globally by facilitating the internationalization of European SMEs and the conclusion of trade agreements with other global partners, the survey states. AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Nicoleta Banciulea; EN - writing by: Bogdan Gabaroi)