Europe once prided itself on being a continent of inventors, engineers, and entrepreneurs. Today, it is a continent of compliance officers. Under the weight of endless regulations—from climate targets and digital rules to corporate due diligence—innovation has become secondary to survival.
The European Commission calls it “responsible growth.” For small and medium-sized enterprises, it feels more like slow suffocation. Every new directive brings more paperwork, higher costs, and a fresh layer of bureaucracy. The problem is not only quantity but complexity: Brussels now produces more than 2,000 pages of new regulation each month, a legal maze that even large corporations struggle to navigate.
For the giants of the European economy —multinationals with vast legal departments and global supply chains— compliance has become a manageable cost of doing business. They can afford the consultants, the audit, and the certifications. For the rest, it’s an existential burden.
From packaging restrictions to carbon accounting, the cumulative effect is devastating. A bakery in Spain, a machinery producer in Poland, or a textile factory in Portugal now spends thousands of euros each year on reporting requirements that have little to do with their real environmental or economic impact.
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