4 ms·

Oh this could be hilarious. The world's largest bureaucracy is trying to encourage EU web entrepreneurship in the most bureaucratic way possible for the typical

Oh this could be hilarious. The world's largest bureaucracy is trying to encourage EU web entrepreneurship in the most bureaucratic way possible for the typical political reasons ("Stay in Europe and create more jobs!"). Even the project web site reeks of EU bureaucracy [1]. [1] https://ec.europa.eu/digital-agenda/en/startup-europe-initiative-european-commission-strengthen-environment-web-entrepreneurs-europe/ https://ec.europa.eu/digital-agenda/en/startup-europe-initia...

blaze33 14y ago
Agreed, European Commission was the last place I expected to see launching such an initiative. On the other hand, my gut feeling after attending web/entrepreneur/conferences is that half of the interesting people I met have actual initiatives or strong interest to help & promote entrepreneurship. So I'm left wondering how this ecosystem of bottom-up initiatives could really connect with the top-down EU. Because it would be a nice thing to have a stronger federation of our local initiatives, especially to help those getting started and also because we can't just go away with legal & bureaucratic issues.
derda 14y ago
As much as I'd love to see something useful coming out of the european commision, I don't really see it. The EU (and its bureaucrats) have been proven absolutely useless or even dangerous when it comes to Internet related issues, I can not see them fixing web-entrepreneurship in Europe.
- LinaLauneBaer 14y ago
  I don't know if european commission == european union but PyPy was funded by the EU initially. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PyPy#Funding http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PyPy#Funding
  - arethuza 14y ago
    The EC is the executive branch of the EU: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Commission http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Commission
onemorepassword 14y ago
It's cheap and easy to ridicule everything the EU does and completely ignore how successful it has been so far in uniting a group of extremely diverse countries to be competitive against powerhouses like the US, without completely selling out all cultural diversity and social protections. Initiatives like this can clear the way for equalizing regulations that now hinder start-ups to operate across the EU, and remove barriers in certain countries, with direct input from existing start-ups. How can this be a bad thing?
- LunaSea 14y ago
  If you think that the EU has been "successful", you are majorly mistaken.
  - blaze33 14y ago
    And yet I'm living in the longest period of peace on the western European mainland since Pax Romana. Depends on how you define success.
  - onemorepassword 14y ago
    I live in the EU in an unprecedented period of peace and prosperity (yes, despite the current dip) and the freedom to live and work anywhere from Lithuania in the former Soviet-Union to the south of Spain. And that in the same country were my grandparents had to hide in the basement for German bombs, and nearly starved to death in the winter. Also, I'm married to a woman who grew up in a totalitarian communist state that is now also part of the same borderless EU. If you don't consider that a success, you have zero perspective.
arethuza 14y ago
"The world's largest bureaucracy" The EU (population 500 million) employees about 33 thousand people - there are more civil servants here in Scotland (population 6 million) - about 50,000. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Civil_Service http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Civil_Service Mind you, we have have too many civil servants here in Scotland. However, compared to Greece (population 10 million) which has about 600,000 the EU (and even Scotland's) civil service payroll looks pretty harmless. NB I think a more accurate number for total EU employees - is about 50 thousand - the 33 thousand figure above is for the executive branch: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904888304576474154095607070.html http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405311190488830457647... Still - hardly the "worlds largest bureaucracy"
- derda 14y ago
  Those guys add up to the local government. Also they get paid a ton of money (there are more then 4000 EU-civil-servants who earn more than Mrs. Merkel)[1] [1] - http://www.welt.de/wirtschaft/article113330591/4365-EU-Beamte-verdienen-mehr-als-die-Kanzlerin.html http://www.welt.de/wirtschaft/article113330591/4365-EU-Beamt... (in german)
jennyjenjen 14y ago
As if the US isn't a big bureaucracy?

blaze33 14y ago

Agreed, European Commission was the last place I expected to see launching such an initiative. On the other hand, my gut feeling after attending web/entrepreneur/conferences is that half of the interesting people I met have actual initiatives or strong interest to help & promote entrepreneurship. So I'm left wondering how this ecosystem of bottom-up initiatives could really connect with the top-down EU. Because it would be a nice thing to have a stronger federation of our local initiatives, especially to help those getting started and also because we can't just go away with legal & bureaucratic issues.

derda 14y ago

As much as I'd love to see something useful coming out of the european commision, I don't really see it. The EU (and its bureaucrats) have been proven absolutely useless or even dangerous when it comes to Internet related issues, I can not see them fixing web-entrepreneurship in Europe.

LinaLauneBaer 14y ago
I don't know if european commission == european union but PyPy was funded by the EU initially. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PyPy#Funding http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PyPy#Funding
- arethuza 14y ago
  The EC is the executive branch of the EU: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Commission http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Commission

onemorepassword 14y ago

It's cheap and easy to ridicule everything the EU does and completely ignore how successful it has been so far in uniting a group of extremely diverse countries to be competitive against powerhouses like the US, without completely selling out all cultural diversity and social protections. Initiatives like this can clear the way for equalizing regulations that now hinder start-ups to operate across the EU, and remove barriers in certain countries, with direct input from existing start-ups. How can this be a bad thing?

LunaSea 14y ago
If you think that the EU has been "successful", you are majorly mistaken.
- blaze33 14y ago
  And yet I'm living in the longest period of peace on the western European mainland since Pax Romana. Depends on how you define success.
- onemorepassword 14y ago
  I live in the EU in an unprecedented period of peace and prosperity (yes, despite the current dip) and the freedom to live and work anywhere from Lithuania in the former Soviet-Union to the south of Spain. And that in the same country were my grandparents had to hide in the basement for German bombs, and nearly starved to death in the winter. Also, I'm married to a woman who grew up in a totalitarian communist state that is now also part of the same borderless EU. If you don't consider that a success, you have zero perspective.

arethuza 14y ago

"The world's largest bureaucracy" The EU (population 500 million) employees about 33 thousand people - there are more civil servants here in Scotland (population 6 million) - about 50,000. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Civil_Service http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Civil_Service Mind you, we have have too many civil servants here in Scotland. However, compared to Greece (population 10 million) which has about 600,000 the EU (and even Scotland's) civil service payroll looks pretty harmless. NB I think a more accurate number for total EU employees - is about 50 thousand - the 33 thousand figure above is for the executive branch: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904888304576474154095607070.html http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405311190488830457647... Still - hardly the "worlds largest bureaucracy"

derda 14y ago
Those guys add up to the local government. Also they get paid a ton of money (there are more then 4000 EU-civil-servants who earn more than Mrs. Merkel)[1] [1] - http://www.welt.de/wirtschaft/article113330591/4365-EU-Beamte-verdienen-mehr-als-die-Kanzlerin.html http://www.welt.de/wirtschaft/article113330591/4365-EU-Beamt... (in german)

jennyjenjen 14y ago

As if the US isn't a big bureaucracy?