Europe’s startup founders and investors have launched a 100-day campaign, warning that EU Inc could become unusable if its core provisions are weakened during negotiations.
The European Commission’s proposal is intended to give companies a common corporate framework for establishing and expanding across the EU, without replacing national tax or employment laws.
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The open letter was published by EU–INC, the grassroots initiative that has campaigned for a common European company structure. It warns that the legislation could preserve much of the complexity it is intended to remove if companies must continue navigating separate national registers and inconsistent stock-option rules.
EU–INC says it has attracted support from more than 26,000 founders, investors and startup operators across the EU’s 27 member states. Signatories to the latest letter include Spotify founder Daniel Ek, Mistral co-founder and CEO Arthur Mensch, DeepL co-founder and CEO Jarek Kutylowski and Atomico founder Niklas Zennström.
“Getting EU Inc passed is not enough and the details are not technicalities,” the campaigners said.
What EU Inc Would Change
The European Commission presented its EU Inc proposal on 18 March 2026. The optional corporate regime is intended to make establishing and running a company across the EU faster and less expensive.
Businesses would be able to register digitally within 48 hours for a fee of no more than €100, without a minimum share-capital requirement. The framework would also introduce more corporate rules and employee stock-option arrangements, alongside an accelerated insolvency procedure for qualifying innovative companies.
Any business would be able to register under the proposed company form, although some provisions, including the accelerated insolvency procedure, would apply only to companies meeting specific innovation criteria.
The Commission estimates that around 300,000 companies could register under the framework during its first ten years. The proposal must still be approved by the European Parliament and the Council, which represents EU member states.
The initiative responds to a longstanding problem within the European market. Startups can sell products and services across the EU, but expanding into several countries can require them to navigate different corporate laws and administrative procedures.
EU Inc is intended to make it easier for companies to expand across the bloc and help Europe compete more effectively with the United States, where a company incorporated in one state can grow across the country without adopting a new legal form in every state.
EU Inc companies would remain subject to the employment laws of the countries where their staff work and the tax requirements that apply where their economic activity takes place. Other domestic regulatory obligations would also continue to apply.
Which Rules Campaigners Want Protected
The most immediate dispute concerns how EU Inc companies would be registered.
EU–INC wants one authoritative European register rather than an interface connecting separate national systems. They argue that investors, banks and public authorities should be able to check the same verified company and ownership information anywhere in the EU.
The initiative says a central register has been removed from one current negotiating draft. This has not been confirmed through a publicly available official negotiating text. Still, EU–INC warns that relying on 27 national registers would leave companies facing many of the same national barriers the proposal had previously stated it would remove.
Registration also raises the question of where an EU Inc company can establish its corporate home. EU–INC wants founders to be able to register in any member state without having to locate all their operations there. It also wants the legislation to prohibit companies from being treated differently because they are registered elsewhere in the bloc.
Access to the proposed regime is another point of contention. The initiative opposes restricting the EU Inc company form to only officially designated “innovative” businesses, selected industries, or companies below a particular revenue and headcount threshold. Instead, it argues that wider access is essential if EU Inc is to become a dependable European standard.
Employee stock options are also central to the campaign. Startups frequently use them to attract specialist employees when they cannot match the salaries offered by larger companies.
EU–INC wants employees to be taxed when they sell or otherwise dispose of their shares, rather than before they have received a financial return. It is also calling for a standard valuation method when options are granted, giving companies and employees greater certainty about their eventual tax treatment.
At the same time, the initiative says EU Inc should simplify company law without offering a route around domestic employment protections or tax obligations. Employment law would continue to follow the location of the employee, while taxation would reflect where a company conducts and manages its business.
Negotiations Enter A Decisive Period
The European Parliament and EU member states are now developing their respective positions on the Commission’s proposal.
The Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee is expected to consider amendments in September. Member-state representatives are also due to hold technical negotiations ahead of a ministerial discussion at the Competitiveness Council.
Once Parliament and the Council have established their positions, they will have to negotiate an agreed text. The Commission has called for a political agreement by the end of 2026.
If the final text leaves founders dealing with the same national systems and administrative barriers, EU–INC argues, they will have little reason to use it.
