Sir, Regarding ‘Italy isolated as ten countries unite on patents‘: Today, most technical and commercial communications are in English, while an inventor’s mother tongue is their most precise communication tool. Why not combine the two (the inventor’s usual language + English) in a two-column layout where paragraphs in one language are aligned next to the [...]

Sir, Concernant ‘L’Acte sur le marché unique attire les foudres du forum public‘: L’article d’EurActiv.com paru suite au débat public organisé par Confrontations Europe ce jeudi 18 novembre est inacceptable. Alors que tous les participants ont souligné la formidable opportunité qu’ouvre cet Acte pour le marché unique, le titre laisse penser que nous sommes opposés [...]

Sir, Regarding ‘EU to raise trade defences against foreign state aid‘: This is short-termism as usual from the EU and will not really work in the long-term interest of the EU. It is about time, therefore, for the EU to get ‘real’ and understand its major deficiency, address it at its core as an emergency [...]

Sir, Regarding ‘Parliament backs 20-week maternity leave‘: Europe’s leaders must use Thursday’s EU summit to fight against the introduction of new laws on maternity leave, voted on by MEPs last week, that will increase maternity leave from the current EU minimum of 14 weeks to 20 weeks, all of which will be on compulsory full [...]

Sir, Regarding ‘EU to push patent-free eGovernment’: When discussing eGovernment and interoperability, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are often overlooked. The fact is that innovative SMEs such as mine play a role that is at least as important as any of the so-called ‘software giants’. Effective eGovernment requires innovative, tailored and flexible solutions. European SMEs [...]

Sir, Regarding ‘European businesses crippled by late payments‘: Your article explains how late payment failures are substantially hurting SMEs, with the risk far more prevalent in South and East European Countries. As CEO of Solid Quality Mentors, a Spanish innovative small and medium-sized enterprise (SME), I welcome any measure which helps us reduce red tape [...]

Sir, Regarding ‘China, US ‘moving faster than EU’ on innovation‘: The problem with EU bureaucrats is that they do not understand the fundamentals. They think that they do, but they do not. That is why the EU is failing in the innovation stakes against the growing innovation might of South-East Asia and China in particular. [...]

Sir, Regarding ‘Regional ‘stars’ rewarded for innovative projects‘: The EU’s integrated ‘innovation chain’ has never been complete and therefore will never work. For if we have a broken link in any connected chain or necklace, it will always inextricably fall to the ground. The only way to fix that link is to connect the two [...]

Sir, Regarding ‘Lawmakers rethinking EU stance on China‘: On 29 April, [European Commission] President [José Manuel] Barroso will travel to China with an impressive delegation of commissioners and high-level delegates. Apart from celebrating the opening of the World Expo, this visit is a good opportunity to present European concerns and ambitions towards the second-largest economy [...]

Sir, Regarding ‘Skills shortage worsens EU unemployment‘: As a recent graduate from the London School of Economics and holder of a European Parliament scholarship from 2007-09, I have now been making hopeless overtures to the job market for longer than I care to count. During my four years of graduate studies, I have consistently taken [...]