When people think of the European Union, they often imagine a union built on free trade, open borders, and a spirit of entrepreneurial opportunity. And to be fair, the EU has brought undeniable benefits to its member states in terms of market access, peace, and cooperative regulation. But for entrepreneurs — especially small business owners — the reality on the ground is becoming increasingly stifling.
In recent years, the EU has developed a habit of legislating with good intentions but poor execution. Too often, rules designed to curb the excesses of massive multinationals end up being inflicted on the smallest of enterprises, making the dream of running a small business in Europe far more complicated, expensive, and frustrating than it needs to be.
And this is more than just a local problem. As trade tensions grow — notably with the United States, where President Trump has recently called for new tariffs on the EU in response to what he sees as protectionist overreach — it’s worth asking whether the EU’s own bureaucracy is turning one of its greatest economic assets, its entrepreneurs, into casualties of its own regulatory zeal.
The Problem of One-Size-Fits-All Regulation
Let’s start with a simple example: cookie consent notifications on websites.
The intention behind the EU’s rules on data privacy is, in theory, admirable. Tech giants like Facebook and Google had built entire empires by vacuuming up user data without meaningful consent or oversight. The EU wanted to curb this — and so it did, with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and related directives like the ePrivacy Directive.
The result? Every website visitor in Europe is now confronted with a barrage of cookie consent banners. And not just on big, data-hungry platforms — but on the smallest blogs, one-man e-commerce shops, and tiny portfolio sites. And as a result, the visitors, now just click on cookies consent without even consciously acknowledging it.
For a small business owner, the compliance burden is disproportionate. Creating a compliant cookie policy, integrating third-party consent management tools, and updating it to match frequent regulatory interpretations takes time, money, and resources. And what’s the actual benefit? The overwhelming majority of small websites never abused user data in the first place. And those who abuse, still go unnoticed, due to the insensibility created by over deploy of cookies consents.
The rule could have — and should have — been targeted at companies with significant user data collection practices. But it wasn’t. And this pattern repeats itself across EU regulations.
EORI Numbers: Bureaucracy for the Sake of It
Another example is the Economic Operators Registration and Identification (EORI) number requirement.
At face value, the EORI system is meant to improve customs security and facilitate trade data collection for goods entering or leaving the EU. That makes sense when applied to major importers and exporters. But small businesses who occasionally sell a few items outside the EU, or who buy goods from non-EU suppliers, are also forced into this system.
Acquiring an EORI number isn’t complicated in itself, but it adds another layer of bureaucracy — paperwork, applications, numbers to remember, and customs declarations to handle. For a business running on limited manpower, every extra administrative hurdle takes time away from core operations like product development, customer service, and sales.
More importantly, it creates a deterrent effect. How many budding entrepreneurs or side-hustlers have been discouraged from expanding internationally because of these seemingly minor but cumulatively burdensome rules?
I personally recently sold a couple copies of my finance theme board game “MoneySmart”, the buyer is in the UK, and while trying to dispatch the items, i came across the EORI requirement, i seriously considered just cancelling the order, and i wonder what percentage of small businesses prefer just to cancel the occasional none EU orders, to avoid going through the EORI bureaucracy.
Taxation: Death by a Thousand Cuts
Then there’s taxation. European entrepreneurs face a labyrinth of taxes: VAT, corporate income tax, social security contributions, and local levies.
VAT, in particular, is a nightmare for small e-commerce businesses. The EU’s VAT rules require businesses to charge VAT based on the customer’s location, not the seller’s. That means small online sellers must track the VAT rates of 27 different countries, register in multiple jurisdictions if they cross certain thresholds, and regularly submit reports to tax authorities.
The EU introduced a One-Stop Shop (OSS) scheme to simplify this, but for many small sellers, it remains a logistical and administrative headache. The end result? Many businesses limit their sales to their home country or to select markets, stifling cross-border growth — ironically, one of the EU’s supposed economic priorities.
Add corporate income taxes, which vary by country but can be hefty, and social security contributions (which in many countries are levied on top of salaries at high rates), and you have an environment where small businesses are squeezed between regulatory requirements and taxation.
Punishing Everyone for the Sins of the Few
What ties all these examples together is a fundamental flaw in the EU’s regulatory philosophy: the tendency to punish everyone for the sins of the few.
Big businesses misbehave, and instead of crafting targeted rules that address those specific behaviors or thresholds, the EU implements blanket regulations that catch every business in their net. The result is that small businesses — which lack the compliance departments, legal advisors, and spare cash reserves of large firms — bear a disproportionate share of the burden.
It’s regulatory overkill, and it risks driving entrepreneurship underground, offshore, or out of existence altogether.
An Opportunity for Reflection (and Reform)
It’s no wonder that trade tensions are brewing. As per this CNN article, US President Trump is pushing for new tariffs against the EU, in part as a response to what he perceives as the EU’s overbearing regulatory regime and protectionist tendencies. While his motives may be politically charged, he’s tapping into a real frustration felt by businesses on both sides of the Atlantic.
If the EU genuinely wants to foster an entrepreneurial culture, it needs to rethink its approach. That means:
- Proportional regulation: Apply stricter rules to large businesses with significant market power or data practices, while easing requirements for small and micro-businesses.
- Simplified cross-border trade rules: Make it easier for small businesses to sell across borders without dealing with disproportionate customs, tax, and compliance obligations.
- Tax reforms: Streamline and harmonize tax regimes, reduce double taxation, and offer meaningful incentives for small business growth.
- Entrepreneurial impact assessments: Require new regulations to undergo impact studies specifically measuring their effect on SMEs (Small and Medium-sized Enterprises) before implementation.
The EU can either continue down its current path — a maze of rules, taxes, and bureaucracy — or it can embrace a simpler, fairer, and more dynamic regulatory environment that allows its entrepreneurs to thrive.
Because in a world where the next tariff, trade war, or economic shock is always around the corner, Europe’s small businesses need fewer obstacles, not more.
