I’m curious to hear opinions on how bureaucracy/inefficiency impacts day to day life. We often hear how Western Europe is horrendous with being able to get things done efficiently- but I’m curious to hear for Europe as a whole, are there any exceptions? Would like to hear about the “less popular” expat locations in Europe.
For activities such as getting internet set up in a new flat; or having the heat break and needing the repair company to come look at it- which countries in Europe would be the most efficient?
Please enlighten us, entertain us with an example or two please but based on personal experiences please. I know Italy’s demographics are even worse than Germany’s, every second person in Germany is a 60 year old granny
I have a lot of examples just from the couple of month I have been here. It’s basically like Germany, just that it’s hard to find any useful information and different authorities tell you completely different stuff. And the worst part is, that they are so badly understaffed everywhere.
To collect my student ID/finish my enrollment, I had to book an appointment in advance, collect a number and wait 2h just to pick up this plastic card. The lady at the counter apparently did a mistake as well, so I had to redo the whole process, to see the lady again. Phone numbers or email addresses do basically not exist at the university. They have a ticketing system but you never get a response. So for every question you have, to stand in line for hours to get an answer.
Other story: I want to get Italian health insurance. The website of the health service says I have to get my residence first in order to get the insurance. The authority for the residence thingy says I have to get the health insurance first in order to get my residence. I asked another Student from Germany for advice and he told me that he put a lot of effort into getting Italian health insurance but he did not manage to get one.
If you want to get a monthly subscription for the public transport, you have to collect the ticket in person. You have to be there in time to get one of the 400 numbers they issue daily and wait in a super long line then.
That’s just three of the many things I experienced in the last month. It’s really grotesque how bad things work here. And it’s not only me as a German who says that. My friends from Belgium, France, Portugal etc etc have the exact same impression.
Just like in Germany, both very lazy and incompetent. I sincerely hope you don’t ever have to deal with any of this bureaucracy again, it makes it hard to get anything done