Fifty leading European CEOs and investors have called on EU lawmakers to resist watering down the bloc’s proposed EU Inc. legislation, warning that a weakened version could fail to deliver the scale and simplicity Europe’s founders need to compete globally.
A Bid To Simplify Europe’s Fragmented Business Landscape
The proposed law is designed to make it cheaper and easier for companies to launch and operate across EU borders. Backers say it could remove some of the administrative friction that has long made it difficult for startups and scaleups to grow beyond their home markets.
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Brussels is expected to approve the measure by year-end, but negotiations suggest the final text may fall short of what many founders had hoped for. For a continent where businesses still confront 27 different legal and regulatory systems, even modest reform is being watched closely.
Why Founders See It As A Competitiveness Test
The legislation is part of the European Commission’s broader push to improve the bloc’s competitiveness. Supporters argue that Europe’s companies struggle to scale because legal fragmentation creates red tape, raises compliance costs and slows expansion inside the single market.
In their letter to policymakers, the signatories said lawmakers must ensure the final version creates “a genuinely European company form, rather than adding another layer on top of 27 national systems.”
Among the signatories are investors from Index Ventures, Accel, Balderton, Atomico and EQT.
The Core Demands From Investors And Founders
The group is urging policymakers to preserve the freedom to choose a registered office, allowing founders to base their company in one EU country without being forced to locate all operations there.
They also want eligibility for EU Inc. to extend beyond “innovative” startups. Critics of a narrower approach argue that restricting access could limit adoption and undermine the law’s usefulness. Supporters of tighter rules, however, say a broader scheme could become unwieldy and lose its focus.
Another key demand is the creation of a single, authoritative European register rather than a patchwork interface built on top of 27 national systems. Proponents say such a structure would make company records easier to search and verify across borders.
The signatories are also pushing for employees to be taxed only when they sell company shares, and for employment protections to remain tied to the country where workers are actually based.
What Is At Stake
For Europe’s startup ecosystem, the debate is about more than legal design. It is a test of whether the bloc can build a framework that supports rapid growth at scale, rather than one that simply overlays another layer of complexity on an already fragmented market.
If lawmakers adopt a streamlined version, EU Inc. could become a meaningful step toward a more integrated European business environment. If they do not, founders and investors warn, the law risks becoming another well-intentioned reform that is too diluted to matter.
