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How Europe is killing makers and micro-entrepreneurs

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Re: How Europe is killing makers and micro-entrepreneurs

#561

Post by rvba »

fallingbananna wrote: post #286
mstaoru wrote: post #190

I don't know if this EU regulation will work or not (most likely not), but I can share how it is done in China (where package volume is orders of magnitude higher). China identifies "choke points" most packages pass: large platforms and logistics companies. Yes, Chinese e-commerce is more centralized on Alibaba/JD/PDD etc, but there are actually much more logistics companies in China than in EU. They also do not intr…

>Could EU just ask DHL/Hermes/whatever to charge an additional €1 "for recycling"? Yes, but... Within EU we already pay ~€3 for packages from China. And in Austria we will soon pay additional ~€2 for every delivered package. And 20% VAT. Edit: I am pretty sure at least some part of these already contribute towards recycling. The goal here is likely not just to get more funding for recycling, but rather to use materia…

DHL charges 1 eur for recycling, which it pockets since the envelope or box with thr product went to the consumer... who throws it away to the segregated garbage bin - for which every consumer also pays.

Re: How Europe is killing makers and micro-entrepreneurs

#562

Post by marc »

TacticalCoder wrote: post #556
germandiago wrote: post #528

My first decision when building my company was to leave Spain. They smash you very quickly. They do not care if they ruin you via prosecurion or you have to shut down. The tax agency is extremely agressive. The laws favor the agents to extents that are illegal and weven criminal (check the bonus of inspectors). Check Robert Amsterdam work on this, something we all spanish know for a long time.

Spain also smashes foreigners owning a property in Spain. They see tourists and foreigners (even if they're from the EU) as a gigantic target to squeeze and screw as hard as they can. That's what you get when your economy is based on tourism and rich foreigners owning property there: you have to squeeze those hard for it's basically all you have. Officially tourism is "only" about 15% of the GDP but Spain is a servic…

> “Spain also smashes foreigners owning a property in Spain.”

In which way?

Re: How Europe is killing makers and micro-entrepreneurs

#563

Post by A_D_E_P_T »

lucasRW wrote: post #150
0x_rs wrote: post #47

It's typical eco-suicide: give eurocrats more power and fake work to do, pretend most recycling regulations aren't scams, and practically destroy trade between countries in the union because you need one representative in every single country you want to sell anything in. As if adding a 5 (soon to become 7€) fee (plus tax) for every line of item (not package) outside the union wasn't enough. It is also quite obvious…

And don't forget to fill in all the administrative paperwork on how your business addresses climate change; LGBTQIA+ issues; men/women parity; etc !

Fortunately, generating this sort of annoying boilerplate is what LLMs were born to handle.

Re: How Europe is killing makers and micro-entrepreneurs

#564

Post by HeyLaughingBoy »

mrguyorama wrote: post #471
caseysoftware wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure if it's a pattern but when I interviewed with an EU company recently, they explicitly asked if I was married and if I had kids. They explained it as they had a "European mindset towards weekends and holidays" and they expected me to NOT be online. I was fine with the mindset but never expected to get those questions in an interview, as it'd be illegal in the States.

It had to be made illegal to ask in the states, because so many employers used that information in an adversarial way. In places that don't have such a history, there's no reason for it to be taboo.

To be clear: the question isn't illegal. What is illegal is using it to discriminate against a protected class, so as a result, no interviewer with half a brain will ask those questions.

Re: How Europe is killing makers and micro-entrepreneurs

#565

Post by martin_a »

Newly established laws are always like a pendulum.

It swings to one side, overreaching and overcomplicating things, and then back to the other side where restrictions are loosened or removed.

Anybody remembers the EU platform for dispute resolution? It's gone after 10 years because nobody used it.

PPWR in 10 years will probably be something like: Sign up for a recycling system in your country and pay for the packaging you've brought into the market. Also have icons on the packaging so people know how to recycle them. (Except in France, they'll surely require some crazy stuff as always.)

Re: How Europe is killing makers and micro-entrepreneurs

#566

Post by svobodamartin »

reillyse wrote: post #547
svobodamartin wrote: post #544

History will see last years as EU that turned Europe -suicidal for own energy industry and economy via green deal without real impact for the world (see EU vs World/ China CO2 emisions chart) -demographically/socially suicidal via open borders and stupidly generous social benefits for immigrants instead of supporting own families -going back in time via overregulation of every aspect of our lives -becoming police sta…

Little hysterical no? Everywhere has their problems, I think Europe is doing fine. Where do you think is a model society ?

Its a frustration and seeing things, that cant be unseen, speaking..

I don't know where model is, but what would be ideal: valuing own history, values, societies over not own, being strong outwardly and soft inwardly/on own people (not vice versa as is now), being practical and forward thinking over posing as a "leader in regulation" with suppressing everything meaningful hangover.

There are tons of examples of strategically bad political decisions with long term broad consequences.

Reminds me of "everything is fine" meme.

Re: How Europe is killing makers and micro-entrepreneurs

#567

Post by reillyse »

Razengan wrote: post #551
reillyse wrote: post #547

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Little hysterical no? Everywhere has their problems, I think Europe is doing fine. Where do you think is a model society ?

Uranus, where I have announced myself as undisputed leader.

In light of your unilateral pronouncement, I’d like to deliver my own message to all the loyal residents of Anuses everywhere… this too shall pass.

Re: How Europe is killing makers and micro-entrepreneurs

#568

Post by mpweiher »

amarcheschi wrote: post #351
mpweiher wrote: post #199

A couple of things to note: 1. The EU commission wanted a single central registry 2. It was the member states, via the Council of Ministers, that torpedoed this. 3. The EU now advises its member states to not implement/enforce this 4. Until the correction, which is on its way, can be fully enacted. So the same old same old: member states do shitty stuff and blame the EU.

I haven't followed the legislative process, where can I find that the eu wanted a single registry but the country pushed for national ones? Because i have never read it. I'm not saying it's not true, it's just that it's so hard to follow these things when one is supposed to have a life as well

There has been reporting on this in many places. Here is one:

https://packaging-journal.de/en/eu-commission-wants-to-scrap...

"According to the Händlerbund, the European Commission's proposal to abolish the requirement has been on the table since December 2025. However, discussions in the Council of the EU were suspended a few weeks ago after a majority of member states spoke out against it."

"A restricted version is currently being discussed in the European Parliament. According to this, an exemption is only to apply to micro-enterprises with up to 49 employees and an annual turnover of a maximum of 10 million euros. A first reading is scheduled for October 2026 at the earliest."

Re: How Europe is killing makers and micro-entrepreneurs

#569

Post by ab5tract »

zigman1 wrote: post #237
gmueckl wrote: post #227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Politicians can be quite evil, but in a functioning democracy they need to be at least competent at gathering support and navigating the occasional backstabbing plots to make it to the highest ranks of government. So I'm hesitant to call them totally incompetent.

Exactly. Competent at getting votes (and taking them away from competition) and incompetent at leading and being in power.

What is the alternative that you are proposing? When I read something like this all that comes across is a strident desire for totalitarianism.

Re: How Europe is killing makers and micro-entrepreneurs

#570

Post by fakedang »

Razengan wrote: post #551
reillyse wrote: post #547

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Little hysterical no? Everywhere has their problems, I think Europe is doing fine. Where do you think is a model society ?

Uranus, where I have announced myself as undisputed leader.

As Supreme overlord of Saturn, I soundly dispute your assertion.
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