Written on July 14, 2008 – 4:27 pm
David Petherick, Contributing Editor, United Kingdom
Image via WikipediaSocietas Privata Europaea (SPE) is a proposed EU-wide company type designed specifically for small to medium sized companies to operate in EU member countries, which could be enacted as soon as 2009. This is a core part of the Small Business Act for Europe, which the European Commission unveiled at the end of June, based on ten guiding principles and proposing policy actions for both the Commission and Member States.
Here are some of the headlines in what is being planned:
- An SPE formation should be effected within 7 days.
- A cap on obtaining business licences and permits of one month.
- Lower VAT for services supplied locally.
- SMEs can set up their company in the same form, no matter if they do business in their own Member State or in another.
- Cut the administrative burden by 25% by 2012.
The press release begins with the wonderful phrase “a step towards a Europe of entrepreneurs, with less red tape and more red carpet for Europe’s 23 million SMEs“. [English Version] [Dutch Version] A set of Frequently Asked Questions also helps to explain the benefits of this initiative.
The lawyers, accountants, international tax experts, company formation outfits and administrative bureaucrats will hate this, as they have long grown fat from the cumbersome and often antiquated legislation and regulations that small businesses are forced to deal with, often irrespective of their size, and the necessity to follow separate, complex, and expensive company formation rules and registrations in each country. I would not be too surprised to see attempts from these types of organisations to slow down and undermine this initiative, as it of course lessens their role, and reduces the number of intermediaries involved when a company expands and works in more than one country.
However, the European entrepreneurs of today and tomorrow will love this - and it is in the long-term interests of every member nation in Europe to support this type of initiative. This is how one creates the jobs of tomorrow. It is a sad fact that long-term enlightened thinking has not always been a strong point for politicians and entrenched vested interests in Europe, so it is up to enterepreneurs across Europe to applaud, support and spread the word about this initiative.
I hope you like that post!
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Written on July 4, 2008 – 11:32 am
Ernst-Jan Pfauth, editor in chief
Every year, the European Commission carries out a study on the digital lives of the citizens in its 27 member countries: the E-Communications Household Survey. The research mainly concerns telecommunications - we’re giving up on landlines -, but also contains some interesting facts about the use of computers and Internet.
The survey of 27,000 households was carried out between November 9 and December 14, 2007. You can either download the report (2.8 MB) - which you don’t have the time for - or glance at this short fact sheet to see what your target group is up to.
- A majority of the European households - 53 percent - have access to a computer.
- Half of the European houses have access to the Internet. Although this is an increase of seven percent compared to last year, 51 percent still can’t check their email at home.
- Half of the people who don’t have Internet access just don’t really care about the web.
- Access via broadband has once again become more widespread, it increased with eight percent over the last year to 36 percent.
- 22 percent of the European households have a wireless Internet connection. An increase of eight percent.
- another 22 percent figure: this is the percentage of people who make VoIP calls. This is an increase of five percent and similar to the trend in the U.S.
We can be really satisfied with these numbers. Especially as a recent study by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) shows that of the fifteen countries with the highest number of broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants, twelve are European. Like I stated before, Europe is broadband paradise.
Written on July 2, 2008 – 11:31 am
Ernst-Jan Pfauth, editor in chief
About a month ago I reported that Belgian newspaper publisher Copiepresse demanded that Google should pay €49 million to compensate for the damage listings in Google News had caused them. A weird case, and not just because Copiepresse can easily prevent these listings. What struck me the most was the old-fashioned attitude of the Belgian media company. Call me naive, but I expected the executives of traditional media companies to be visionary enough to realize Google News brings them nothing but traffic. Was I shocked back then, now I’m really amazed by the next step of Copiepresse: they’re suing the EU’s news aggregator NewsExplorer.
This aggregation service from the European Commission wants to help visitors to grasp cultural differences among the EU by showing articles from all countries concerning the same matter. This unique piece of technology is a bit too modern for the Copiepresse conservatives, who prefer officials that use scissors and scrap books to collect the latest European news - behind closed doors. Just imagine helping out citizens by publicly organizing news.
Forgive me my cynicism and lack of respect for traditional business models. It’s just plain frustrating to see a large media company trying to destroy an emerging world of news and information. Copiepresse fails to see threats to their business models as challenges and tries to keep us in a bygone age of information.
There are only two positive notes here: the court has tossed out the case, based on jurisdictional grounds (so there’s hope for Google too), and what goes around, comes around. A company that only sees threats in the digital revolution, will find itself dismantled in a few deccenia. The only thing that bothers me about that, is the waste of journalistic talent.
Written on May 23, 2008 – 1:50 pm
Ernst-Jan Pfauth, editor in chief
Who says European politics is boring? I’ve been following the Microsoft/ EU/ European Commissioner for Competition Neelie Kroes soap with great interest. Definite highlights: the 899 million euro fine, Arrington’s emotional and beautifully written reaction - you gotta love the ATM metaphor -, and the almost forbidden Powerpoint presentations. Of course, we’re talking about real money and problems here. But who doesn’t love some juicy details?
Neelie Kroes
Now a new element enters the Kroes-dominated soap: open-source. Microsoft has announced to improve the open-source compatibility of their products, making it easier for users to work together with users of an open-source rival like OpenOffice. This would give consumers a greater choice and ease Kroes’ worries down. Right?
Well here’s the official statement from the European Commission: “The Commission will investigate whether the announced support of ODF (Open Document Format) in Office leads to better interoperability and allows consumers to process and exchange their documents with the software product of their choice.”
I think it’s just a strategic move by Microsoft to distract the EU from the real problem. The average Windows user doesn’t even know what open source is, let alone use a program like OpenOffice. This step by Microsoft is just a way to create the impression of a compromising attitude. Will the EU buy it?
Image via WikipediaSocietas Privata Europaea (SPE) is a proposed EU-wide company type designed specifically for small to medium sized companies to operate in EU member countries, which could be enacted as soon as 2009. This is a core part of the Small Business Act for Europe, which the European Commission unveiled at the end of June, based on ten guiding principles and proposing policy actions for both the Commission and Member States.
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