EU payment observatory – annual report 2025

The state of late payments in the EU 7

Summary of findings 7

1. Introduction 9

2. Analysis of data on payment performance across the EU 10

Data Sources and Methodology 10

3. Overview of payment performance in the EU in 2024 14

4. The situation of Late Payments in EU Member States 40

Austria 40

Belgium 45

Bulgaria 48

Croatia. 51

Cyprus 53

Czechia 55

Denmark 57

Estonia 60

Finland 62

France 66

Germany 73

Greece 79

Hungary 82

Ireland 85

Italy 88

Latvia 94

Lithuania 95

Luxembourg 97

Malta 100

Netherlands 102

Poland 106

Portugal 111

Romania 116

Slovakia 118

Slovenia 121

Spain 124

Sweden 129

4. How can emerging technologies drive on-time payments? 133

Introduction 133

Instant payments 133

Payments on blockchain 137Artificial intelligence (AI) in payment processing 139

Conclusion 143

5. Activities of the EU Payment Observatory in 2025 145

Thematic report on payment practices reporting under CSRD 145

Thematic report on late payment practices and policies in selected non-EU countries 146

Dissemination activities 147

6. Conclusion 148

Annex 1 – Stakeholder Forum members 150

Annex 2 – Data sources used in the production of this report 153

Annex 3 – Full list of values of the composite indicator on payment culture, 2019-2024 155

Annex 4 – Analysis of the relationship between payment terms and times 159