I really looking forward to this! I love being in the EU and I really like living in Germany. But creating and operating a small company in Germany is a nightmare, I hope this can give smaller EU companies agility and frictionless setup and operation so they can focus on building products and providing services to their customers.
> The ultimate aim is to create a new truly European company structure. We call it EU Inc., with a single and simple set of rules that will apply seamlessly all over our Union. So that business can operate across Member States much more easily. Our entrepreneurs, the innovative companies, will be able to register a company in any Member State within 48 hours – fully online. They will enjoy the same capital regime all across the EU. Ultimately, we need a system where companies can do business and raise financing seamlessly across Europe – just as easily as in uniform markets like the US or China. If we get this right – and if we move fast enough – this will not only help EU companies grow. But it will attract investment from across the world.
> Which brings me to the second focus – investment and capital. We are now building the Savings and Investment Union. We need a large-scale, deep and liquid capital market that attracts a wide range of investors. This will allow businesses to find the funding they need – including equity – at lower cost here in Europe. We have made proposals on market integration and supervision to ensure our financial market is more integrated. This covers trading, post-trading, and asset management – as well as driving innovation and making our supervisory framework more efficient. This will help ensure that capital flows where it is needed – to scaleups, to SMEs, to innovation, to industry.
> Third priority: building an interconnected and affordable energy market – a true energy union. Energy is a chokepoint – for both companies and households. Just look at the dispersion of prices across European electricity hubs. Europe needs an energy blueprint that pulls together all the parts. This is our Affordable Energy Action Plan. For example, we are investing massively in our energy security and independence, with interconnectors and grids – this is for the homegrown energies that we are trying to promote as much as possible, nuclear and renewables. To bring down prices and cut dependencies. To put an end to price volatility, manipulation and supply shock. But we now need to speed up this transition. Because homegrown, reliable, resilient and cheaper energy will drive our economic growth, deliver for Europeans and secure our independence.
I read through the speech, I'm still not sure if this is adopted or not. I found https://www.eu-inc.org/ which seems to be the origin of the proposal, but mentions a final implementation for 2027.
Just heard about this initiative as a European, I don't have an opinion yet.
Seems like a broader version of what Estonia are already doing with e-residency[1]. Registering a company online in a few hours is already easy in a few jurisdictions around the world (e.g: the U.K.[2]) so this isn’t a particularly revolutionary but the intent it signals is good.
> On Saturday, I was in Asunción, in Paraguay, to sign the EU-Mercosur trade agreement. It was a breakthrough after 25 years of negotiations. And with it, the EU and Latin America have created the largest free trade zone in the world. A market worth over 20% of global GDP. 31 countries with over 700 million consumers. Aligned with the Paris Agreement. This agreement sends a powerful message to the world. That we are choosing fair trade over tariffs.
As someone who lives in EU, been skeptical of it for most my life, but for the last 3-4 years kind of turned around on the idea of a stronger EU and more independent Europe, I'm really glad to see and hear that things are swiftly moving ahead. Things like this may seem relatively small, especially with everything going around, but these sort of partnerships and agreements really do have a large impact on the next decades, and I hope we'll see more of this. Fair trade is something we've taken for granted, but we've again learned that it's something you have to fight for, and I'm happy to live in the EU who seem to still realize it's important.
This doesn't solve any issue. Registering a company is already usually pretty simple in most European countries. It's running the company which is difficult due to regulations and stuff.
Last I heard of it this was proposed as a directive as opposed to regulation, meaning every single member state would have to interpret it and create their own national implementation. Just like with GDPR.
So 27 individual implementations of this, as opposed to the current 27 different implementations of how to incorporate and assign equity?
Seems… silly?
I’m all for making it more attractive to create startups in the EU… But I don’t think a directive is the right way
Probably in just 3 to 5 years they could open a working group to outline an agenda for a committee which would prepare blueprints of the primary proposals.
I would love to be able to setup in Europe a non-profit equivalent to the Zig Software Foundation.
I haven't looked too deeply into it, but my understanding is that it's not possible to create an equivalent corporation in Italy (where I reside) nor the rest of Europe.
> with a single and simple set of rules that will apply seamlessly all over our Union
For one, I'm worried about what simple means. Likely something that will not make it as cheap to operate in every EU country, but make it as expensive to do that.
Also, whatever the EU commission/council/whatever they call themselves in order to not call themselves government decides has to be translated into local legislation by all member countries. So it will get twisted in 27 different ways, some of them incompatible. Also 9 of the 27 will take years to finish the process.
I mean, Denmark used to have LLC's and outlawed them some years ago (a thing that my accountant said, paraphrasing "look at all these thieving lawyers getting rich"), so this will mean that LLC's would be allowed again in Denmark?
It seems somehow untrustworthy this
>Our entrepreneurs, the innovative companies, will be able to register a company in any Member State within 48 hours – fully online.
which sounds like not everyone will be allowed to do this? or is it "our" like European is our.
I always heard that the issue with startup investment in Europe was the general lack of capital investors willing to take Hail Mary risks on founders with a wild idea and maybe little experience. The market is far too risk-averse for a grassroots early-stage startup scene.
How would this organization address that fundamental psychological block?
Glad to finally see 28th getting more traction, I was thinking about it just the other day. Personally, I'd love for EU to introduce more institutions that cut at member state sovereignty in favor of tighter integration. What comes to mind immediately is a 28th regime for employment and personal taxes, so companies don't have to resort to workarounds like employee of record or fake "contractors". It seems that EU late binds making big decisions until all options collapse, current events will probably result in more push for federalization overall.
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[ 177 ms ] story [ 2519 ms ] thread> Which brings me to the second focus – investment and capital. We are now building the Savings and Investment Union. We need a large-scale, deep and liquid capital market that attracts a wide range of investors. This will allow businesses to find the funding they need – including equity – at lower cost here in Europe. We have made proposals on market integration and supervision to ensure our financial market is more integrated. This covers trading, post-trading, and asset management – as well as driving innovation and making our supervisory framework more efficient. This will help ensure that capital flows where it is needed – to scaleups, to SMEs, to innovation, to industry.
> Third priority: building an interconnected and affordable energy market – a true energy union. Energy is a chokepoint – for both companies and households. Just look at the dispersion of prices across European electricity hubs. Europe needs an energy blueprint that pulls together all the parts. This is our Affordable Energy Action Plan. For example, we are investing massively in our energy security and independence, with interconnectors and grids – this is for the homegrown energies that we are trying to promote as much as possible, nuclear and renewables. To bring down prices and cut dependencies. To put an end to price volatility, manipulation and supply shock. But we now need to speed up this transition. Because homegrown, reliable, resilient and cheaper energy will drive our economic growth, deliver for Europeans and secure our independence.
Just heard about this initiative as a European, I don't have an opinion yet.
[1] https://www.e-resident.gov.ee/ [2] https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/companies-house
As someone who lives in EU, been skeptical of it for most my life, but for the last 3-4 years kind of turned around on the idea of a stronger EU and more independent Europe, I'm really glad to see and hear that things are swiftly moving ahead. Things like this may seem relatively small, especially with everything going around, but these sort of partnerships and agreements really do have a large impact on the next decades, and I hope we'll see more of this. Fair trade is something we've taken for granted, but we've again learned that it's something you have to fight for, and I'm happy to live in the EU who seem to still realize it's important.
So 27 individual implementations of this, as opposed to the current 27 different implementations of how to incorporate and assign equity?
Seems… silly?
I’m all for making it more attractive to create startups in the EU… But I don’t think a directive is the right way
Probably in just 3 to 5 years they could open a working group to outline an agenda for a committee which would prepare blueprints of the primary proposals.
I haven't looked too deeply into it, but my understanding is that it's not possible to create an equivalent corporation in Italy (where I reside) nor the rest of Europe.
I would love to be proven wrong though.
For one, I'm worried about what simple means. Likely something that will not make it as cheap to operate in every EU country, but make it as expensive to do that.
Also, whatever the EU commission/council/whatever they call themselves in order to not call themselves government decides has to be translated into local legislation by all member countries. So it will get twisted in 27 different ways, some of them incompatible. Also 9 of the 27 will take years to finish the process.
Local taxes & employment
I guess there is hardly any incentive to open a company in, say, Sweden vs Ireland then?
It seems somehow untrustworthy this >Our entrepreneurs, the innovative companies, will be able to register a company in any Member State within 48 hours – fully online.
which sounds like not everyone will be allowed to do this? or is it "our" like European is our.
US tech companies won not because EU is diverse, but because they had access to more money and could undermine all competition by dumping prices.
Even before Google, there was Microsoft and it's tacit acceptance of "piracy".
Already being discussed: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46703877
How would this organization address that fundamental psychological block?
The only way would be to copy it individually so it is the same in each member state which breaks the purpose of it.
Having a EU based one will be great.
previous: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25006716