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The EU unveiled Wednesday a scheme to make it much easier for innovative start-ups to launch and grow across the 27-nation bloc, as part of a push to help Europe keep up with US and Chinese economic rivals.<\/p>\n
Dubbed “EU Inc.”, the proposal for a new pan-European corporate regime is billed as a key plank in efforts to boost the bloc’s competitiveness.<\/p>\n
The new system would allow for entrepreneurs to set up a firm “within 48 hours” fully online from anywhere inside the bloc — doing away with many cross-border bureaucratic headaches.<\/p>\n
“It will make it drastically easier to start and to grow a business in Europe,” EU chief Ursula von der Leyen told reporters.<\/p>\n
Europe was not short of “talent”, “ideas” or “ambition”, she said, but business leaders looking to scale up currently have to navigate 27 national legal systems and more than 60 types of company.<\/p>\n
The EU Inc. setup will come with several perks, but critics fear the EU-wide regime will also loosen oversight and erode workers’ rights.<\/p>\n
EU Inc. companies will require less than 100 euros ($115) and no minimum share capital to get going. They will be free to choose in which EU nation to incorporate and have access to fully digital liquidation procedures, Brussels said.<\/p>\n
“EU Inc. strips away the bureaucracy that comes with establishing a business. Founders will be able to focus on what matters: entering new markets and winning customers,”\u00a0said EU justice commissioner Michael McGrath.<\/p>\n
Though open to anyone, the new voluntary legal regime is geared towards innovative start-ups, which will also benefit from simplified insolvency procedures.<\/p>\n
The commission said it will further explore the possibility\u00a0of allowing “100 percent cross-border” remote work “for innovative start-ups and scale-ups” across the EU.<\/p>\n
Reinhilde Veugelers, of think tank Bruegel, said the goal was “improving (Europe’s) innovation capacity because that is the most important driver for competitiveness”.<\/p>\n
“Fast and easy recognition should make it easier… for companies to grow on an EU scale,” Veugelers said.<\/p>\n
The new scheme, known more broadly as the “28th regime”, will become law only after member states and the European Parliament negotiate and approve a final text — something the commission urged be done by the end of 2026.<\/p>\n