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March 23, 2026

Politicians are flirting with founders but need to commit

Lawmakers across Europe still have a lot of convincing to do

John Thornhill

4 min read

For years, European founders have felt as though they were howling in the wilderness. They were the ones who generated new businesses, jobs and economic dynamism. Yet they did not get much of a hearing from government ministers and EU commission officials, who were far chummier with big business and US multinationals.

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John Thornhill

John Thornhill is Sifted’s founder and innovation editor of the Financial Times. He tweets from @johnthornhillft

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