As someone who has lived in Europe his entire life, I’m in a reasonably good position to notice that quite frankly, the fact that Europe is currently doing awful from an economic standpoint shouldn’t surprise anyone.

Yesterday, I’ve written about the fact that most of my business dealings with individuals and companies from Germany have been frustrating and a reader pointed out that it may very well be a phenomenon which affects Europe as a whole, not just Germany.

The more I think about it, the more I tend to agree that he’s right.

Most of the European domain companies I’ve dealt with are from Germany but after thinking about some of the other ones, I’ve come to the conclusion that indeed, dealing with European companies/individuals in general is usually frustrating.

Most Europeans currently suck at running businesses.

Why?

Mostly because, in my opinion, the climate in Europe discourages entrepreneurial thinking and the more time passes, the worse it gets.

Too much bureaucracy, too little flexibility, you name it.

Europe isn’t doing poorly from an economic perspective due to bad luck, unfortunate circumstances or whatever.

No!

It’s doing poorly because it’s losing competitiveness with each day that passes.

While others (especially from Asia) are working their you know what off, complacency has taken over in Europe. Others are going above and beyond, whereas the European business climate is on a downward spiral.

Taking smart risks?

Entrepreneurial spirit?

Flexibility?

Those are long gone, hidden somewhere beneath mountains of European bureaucracy.