Over recent years many businesses in Spain have been created on the back of subsidies, the vast majority being drawn from the coffers of the European Community. By far the biggest industry to benefit from this was construction…. but that was before the financial crisis kicked in, when not only did the subsidies dry up, but a huge number of construction companies went bust. The problem was that these businesses were simply building for the sake of building – houses, apartment blocks and even airports that were simply not required…. merely to take advantage of the seemingly boundless European wealth. It  has since transpired that many millions of Euros were illicitly syphoned off (probably now secreted in Swiss bank accounts), and so there are at least a few builders, local mayors and politicians who truly cashed in on this ‘European gravy train’.

Anyway, that was a while ago, and, as I mentioned, these subsidies have long since disappeared. So where is the next free money coming from? Where is the next opportunity to cream off a few Euros? The answer? Company training courses!

OK, so it’s not big business like construction, so there’s not to same opportunity to become rich overnight, but there is still the possibility of cashing in by inflating the odd invoice here and there – or so it is alleged (he added hastily, for legal reasons). Subsequently we are now being bombarded by e-mails, encouraging us to send our employees on every type of course you can possibly imagine. If we took advantage of even one or two of the several daily offers that we receive, then we could easily end up with some of the most highly trained employees in Europe.

Naturally, I have applied for the BBC English course…

Over recent years many businesses in Spain have been created on the back of subsidies, the vast majority being drawn from the coffers of the European Community. By far the biggest industry to benefit from this was construction…. but that was before the financial crisis kicked in, when not only did the subsidies dry up, but a huge number of construction companies went bust. The problem was that these businesses were simply building for the sake of building – houses, apartment blocks and even airports that were simply not required…. merely to take advantage of the seemingly boundless European wealth. It  has since transpired that many millions of Euros were illicitly syphoned off (probably now secreted in Swiss bank accounts), and so there are at least a few builders, local mayors and politicians who truly cashed in on this ‘European gravy train’.

Anyway, that was a while ago, and, as I mentioned, these subsidies have long since disappeared. So where is the next free money coming from? Where is the next opportunity to cream off a few Euros? The answer? Company training courses!

OK, so it’s not big business like construction, so there’s not to same opportunity to become rich overnight, but there is still the possibility of cashing in by inflating the odd invoice here and there – or so it is alleged (he added hastily, for legal reasons). Subsequently we are now being bombarded by e-mails, encouraging us to send our employees on every type of course you can possibly imagine. If we took advantage of even one or two of the several daily offers that we receive, then we could easily end up with some of the most highly trained employees in Europe!

Naturally, I have applied for the BBC English course…