🇪🇺 eu/acc AMA: How can we save Europe?

@raphael_schaad Yes! Contribute your ideas on https://euacc.com/ and share it with everyone you know.

The more attention eu/acc gets, the more we're asked for advice by EU and national politicians in Europe on how to improve things.

@levelsio Awesome, thank you!

@ben_griese "Why deregulation and not focusing on making things easier for small to midsize businesses? You mention the latter as a couple points on your site. Focus on preventing the giant monopolies from having too much sway, allowing for more competition and ingenuity, much of which is lacking across tech."

You essentially answered your own question:

Regulation is why it's now hard for startups and small and medium businesses to operate in Europe.

Regulation ironically makes it easier for big corporations to operate because they can easily afford to hire people and invest resources to comply with all the legislation.

For example: Meta can train giant AI models like Llama and face the legal risks and regulatory risks of doing that: breaking the law won't bankrupt it. A small startup would get crushed if it'd break the law.

Not that legality should always direct morality, but why is breaking the law a good example?

Deregulation isn't going to stop giant corporations from breaking the law. It's just going to make it easier for them to get away with it or take advantage of consumers and their data. I'd much rather live somewhere with ethical companies versus the opposite.

A better solution could be to regulate these large corps once they reach increasingly larger stages, and loosen regulations for smaller companies allowing for easier entry (which I believe you mention), along with establishing VCs or incubators to help navigate the supposedly difficult landscape. To that tune, anyone who is trying to navigate something many have done before them (which often comes with guides or people who are willing to help) is not using their resources, may not be ready, or it could be many other factors. Going fast and breaking things isn't always the answer.

If you want to gain any traction within the EU or elsewhere, "deregulation" may be the wrong framework to highlight, but I think you have a few good points on your site meant to benefit society as a whole.

@ben_griese Yep I agree with this.

It's not just about breaking the law though. The amount of work it takes to comply with all the EU regulation is too much for startups and small and medium businesses. Charging sales tax in 27 different countries making sure you get the right sales tax rate for that country that day and reporting it to their IRS. Following every little GDPR rule. Having to register yourself for every single thing you do related to AI. It's quite endless.

@busmark_w_nika "My question is more about how to encourage people to start businesses and help them do something when the situation in Europe is less stable."

I think the easiest way to get people to start more businesses in Europe is to make it easier to start and run a business in Europe. Once it gets easier, you'll see more people try it, and more people get successful because it'll become easier to run a business here. That means more entrepreneurs will get rich and that in turn attracts more Europeans to consider entrepreneurship as a path!

@eliasluoto "As you allude to, the core problem seems ro be social and spiritual. Many Europeans lack the will to start businesses or to otherwise generate positive change, and this unwillingness is exacerbated by the regulatory atmosphere that actively discourages those who would like to build something new from doing so."

Yep, but the reason the culture is so anti-entrepreneurial here is because there's no financial benefit to start a company here after you are faced with the regulation (and taxes!) you have to comply with and pay.

@nevil "The politicians are a reflection of it's people."

Actually it's not. The European Commission (EC) is not democratically elected and creates the laws in the EU. The EC is NOT a reflection of the European people in the slightest.

@levelsio you had this whole rant on your own x account that the people kept you down. That’s what I mean, spiritually speaking most EU people “voted” for this. They don’t like things to change. I get how the whole system works technically speaking.

@nevil I agree with most of the issues Vance brought but I’m upset at his speech because it is completely disingenuous. For example he says Europe is censoring too much when his own parties approach is to flood the zone, which is a form of censorship. This is their documented strategy. We’re not going to just to let Americans own the narrative when they are speed running 90s Russia at home.

@tomas_votruba We have :D it's the Euro. It's up to the Czechs to decide if they want it too. They decided not to.

The Euro has big issues too though. Poorer countries like Portugal, Spain, Italy and Greece cannot devalue their currency based on weaker demand, which means they stay artifically expensive and cannot compete properly. If they had their own currencies, they'd devalue based on weaker demand, and they'd become cheaper to buy, and their exports would increase.

Instead the Euro gives Germany the biggest benefit. It has the opposite effect there: Germany stays artifically cheap due to the poorer countries in the Euro union.

@tomas_votruba @levelsio I’ve been banging this drum for years too. More people need to understand this. In Germany they think they are fiscally responsible and propping up the poor southerners with debt when the reality is more complex.

@fred_mulligan I think there's no big conspiracy but there is a tendency in Europe's media and education that directs a certain way, yes.

@rory_koehler I want to avoid that as it seems too much work. I think just highlighting the problems and proposing practical solutions and then presenting them to politicians who want to hear them (as I already did with Mario Draghi) is a good place to be in.

@levelsio understandable. If not an actual party I can definitely see an opportunity for 3rd party political parties to self-organise around the policy points highlighted by euacc. Think EPP or ALDE (as mentioned in another comment).

This is an incredibly important initiative, possibly the most important civilian initiative in Europe today, and I really appreciate you using your reach like this.

@jessems That's the flag of Europe. It way predates the EU. From wikipedia:

The flag of Europe or European flag[note 1] consists of twelve golden stars forming a circle on a blue field. It is the official flag of the European Union. It was designed and adopted in 1955 by the Council of Europe (CoE) as a symbol for the whole of Europe.