Brussels -- Don't Do Anything, But Get Real!

Dec. 11, 2013
EU is planning to put more control on employing trainees in SMEs.

Just for once European Union, please stop working and you would really make SMEs happy and you would contribute positively to the economic growth.

There are several newspaper articles (The Guardian) about European Union’s budget missing funds due losing, mismanaging the EU budget or due to fraud. We are talking here about several hundred millions of Euros annually.

I hardly manage to write and publish my latest blog about how SMEs should embrace the opportunity to use more and more young people, graduates or students, for solving tough innovation challenges in SMEs.

Latest news is that EU is planning to put tighter control on this very encouraging way of integrating young people into professional life and driving innovation in SMEs.

These new regulations would particularly hit the trainees or interns looking for intermediate jobs in SMEs.

The more paper pushing the Eurocrats are asking from SMEs, the less likely it is that SMEs will hire trainees.

Eurocrats could have not chosen a worse time for this idea. EU’s youth unemployment rate is at its highest level.

European Union, keep taxpayers money under control and let companies run their businesses without additional burden.

SMEs do not need more regulation in Europe!

About the Author

R. Paul Vuolle Blog | CEO

R. Paul Vuolle's blog "The SME's Guide to European Manufacturing," has moved. You'll find his latest ideas and commentary on SME European Manufacturing on IndustryWeek's IdeaXchange. 

You'll find more articles written by Paul at http://www.industryweek.com/blog/smes-guide-european-manufacturing.

R. Paul Vuolle, CEO of Bellevue SME Advisors GmbH in Switzerland and Germany, works actively with small and medium (SME) size manufacturing companies in Europe in SCM/Outsourcing, logistics, turnaround and restructuring, market expansion, as well as succession planning and financing. He also frequently supports technology start- ups in building up their business. 

Paul has over 20 years operational industry experience in engineering, electronics, industrial automation, building automation, investment goods like electrical drives, automatic test & measurement systems, HV Transformer production systems. During his career he has worked in manufacturing industries in supply chain management, outsourcing, logistics, production, R&D and successfully selling to international large key accounts. Paul has also run a sizeable amount of M&A transactions in numerous countries around the world.


He has built up his experience working in various leadership positions and functions in large corporations, such as ABB, and having executive positions in medium-size family companies and as a technology entrepreneur.

Paul is MSc. E.E. from Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich as well as BSc.E.E. from Helsinki Institute of Technology.

Paul is a long time member of IEEE and of its Industrial Applications Society.

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