23/05/2026
EU Funding and the Strategic Management of Idiocy
This is the third session of my eBook dedicated to one of the most underestimated risks in the EU funding ecosystem: idiots with access to calls, consortia, budgets, deadlines, institutions, and opinions.
The core message is simple:
You are, of course, welcome to remain an idiot 0 as long as your idiocy remains a private hobby and does not interfere with other people’s objectives.
But once you enter the EU funding arena, things become more serious.
EU projects are already difficult enough: policies, work programmes, eligibility rules, consortium politics, evaluation criteria, budgets, implementation risks, reporting, audits, and impact logic.
Adding incompetence, confusion, inflated self-confidence, manipulation, hostility, procedural chaos - and sometimes even criminal behaviour - to that mix is not “participation”.
It is a risk. It is a cost. And very often, it is an expensive problem someone serious has to clean up.
This session is about recognising, avoiding, managing - and, when necessary, professionally surviving - the people and behaviours that damage good proposals, strong partnerships, and serious EU project ambitions.
Because in EU funding, working with idiots is not just unpleasant. It can be expensive, frustrating, hostile, manipulative, and deeply damaging.
That is why we are working to create something better:
a more professional, more pleasant, more ethical - and ultimately more profitable - EU funding environment.
This is the third session of my eBook dedicated to one of the most ...
