BRUSSELS: European Union governments signed off Friday on a landmark corporate framework designed to let entrepreneurs register a single entity operating across all member states, a move aimed squarely at closing the bloc’s innovation gap with Washington and Beijing.
The initiative, branded “EU Inc.,” slashes the cost of incorporation below €100 and compresses the registration timeline to just 48 hours. Founders can complete the entire process online from any location, eliminating the tangle of cross-border paperwork that has long frustrated pan-European ventures.
Competitiveness has emerged as a central obsession for Brussels policymakers, who watched European startups repeatedly decamp to American markets for scale and capital. This new optional corporate status, often called the “28th regime,” creates a parallel track to national company laws rather than replacing them.
Yet member states insisted on guardrails. Ireland, currently steering the rotating EU presidency, confirmed that national authorities retain the right to block registrations tied to money laundering, terrorist financing, or other illicit activity under domestic statutes.
As a result, the scheme now carries both simplification and scrutiny in equal measure. Companies formed under EU Inc. gain automatic access to the single market without establishing subsidiaries in multiple countries.
The legislation still faces a lengthy approval road. Both the European Parliament and member governments must negotiate a final text, with the European Commission targeting adoption before the end of 2026.
Parliamentarians expect to lock in their negotiating stance next month. René Repasi, the lead lawmaker from the Socialists and Democrats group, has signaled he wants worker protections embedded more firmly, including stronger employee participation in corporate governance and clarity that the labour laws of an employee’s actual workplace apply.
For Europe’s founders, the promise remains tantalizing: a single digital filing, one legal identity, and a continent-sized market waiting.
