EU INC. and the 28th Regime: Is Europe Finally Simplifying Startup Formation? – 0100 Weekly Brief
Hello there!
Last week, the European Commission announced the launch of EU INC., a proposed pan-European company structure commonly referred to as the “28th regime.” The initiative was unveiled by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at the World Economic Forum and is intended to simplify the creation, financing, and scaling of startups across the European Union.
While the announcement itself was brief, the implications are not. EU INC. represents a potential shift in how Europe approaches company formation and cross-border growth, moving away from nationally fragmented frameworks toward a single, optional corporate layer at the EU level.
In the days following Davos, the proposal triggered a strong response across the startup and investment ecosystem, combining cautious optimism with pointed questions around execution.
A New Legal Framework for European Startups
The initiative is intended to simplify how startups are created, financed, and scaled across the European Union, addressing a problem that founders and investors have raised for years.
EU INC. would introduce a single, optional legal entity operating under EU law, designed to coexist with existing national company structures rather than replace them. The objective is to reduce regulatory fragmentation for startups operating across multiple member states.
What the 28th regime proposes
According to the Commission, EU Inc. would include:
A unified EU-wide legal entity to enable cross-border incorporation and operations
A central, fully digital EU registry allowing company formation within 48 hours
Standardised investment documentation to support cross-border fundraising
A harmonised stock option framework for employees across the EU
The proposal is the result of sustained advocacy from the EU-Inc policy movement, which has gathered more than 22,000 signatories from across the European startup and investment ecosystem. Legal proposals were submitted to the Commission in early 2025, followed by consultations with EU institutions and member state governments.
Why the Ecosystem Is Pushing for This—Now?
The announcement of EU INC. has prompted a strong response from across Europe’s startup and investment ecosystem, reflecting long-standing frustration with regulatory fragmentation rather than enthusiasm for a new policy label. Founders and operators broadly agree that existing national company structures make it difficult to raise capital, hire across borders, and scale efficiently within the EU single market.
Ricardo M., Founder and CEO at wede, described the initiative as an acknowledgement that Europe’s corporate framework has become “fragmented, slow, and uncompetitive” for startups and scaleups. He also highlighted the importance of timing, noting that companies cannot afford extended implementation timelines, as capital and talent increasingly move to jurisdictions where incorporation and scaling are faster and more predictable.
Others have focused on execution rather than intent. Sascha Nievelstein points to incorporation processes that still take weeks in several member states, requiring notary appointments, paper documentation, and local-language filings.
From this perspective, the relevance of EU INC. will depend on whether it delivers a fully digital, standardized process that removes friction in fundraising, equity issuance, and cross-border expansion, rather than adding another optional layer to an already complex system.
From an investor perspective, EU INC. is increasingly being framed as a long-overdue attempt to offer a European equivalent to the Delaware C-Corp—a structure that became the global default not because of geography, but because it is fast, standardised, predictable, and easy to invest in. European founders and investors have relied on U.S. company forms for years for precisely these reasons.
We see real excitement across the venture industry about EU-INC finally getting implemented, with many seeing it as a long-awaited step that could make Europe a far more attractive, scalable, and investable place to build global companies.
At EQT, we believe Europe has a real window of opportunity to unleash a new wave of growth. On that front, I’ve been encouraged by what I’ve heard - from Commission president Ursula von der Leyen’s endorsement of the EU–INC initiative to concrete proposals for more public-private partnerships in Europe as a practical way to mobilise long-term capital and deliver real-world impact at scale.
The underlying test for EU INC. will be whether it can replicate that simplicity. If a pan-European structure is genuinely straightforward to set up and finance, many investors indicate they would be willing to switch and actively encourage founders to adopt it.
At the same time, there is broad recognition that EU INC. represents only the first layer of reform. A 28th regime may sit outside national company laws, but it remains closely connected to local tax, labour, accounting, and judicial systems. For the structure to work in practice, it will require supporting infrastructure and consistent enforcement across member states.
At its core, the EU INC proposal addresses a long-standing structural issue in Europe’s startup ecosystem. That is why the idea of treating Europe as a truly single market resonates so strongly across the ecosystem. As Diva Tommei mentioned in our recent conversation:
“Having a unique vision of Europe as one single market is the next opportunity for Europe, and we really need to pick it up.”
Her comments echo a widely held view across Europe’s startup and investment ecosystem: the priority is not to create another legal construct, but to make Europe the default place for companies to scale. Too often, startups are forced to look beyond the continent before fully exhausting the European market, not by choice but by necessity.
Fragmented rules continue to slow growth.
In this context, any EU-level company structure will be judged on a single criterion: whether it materially reduces fragmentation and allows Europe to function as a true single market in practice, rather than in principle.
Can The 28th Regime Override National Bureaucracy?
There is still a lot of skepticism around the proposal and about whether it can realistically bypass entrenched national systems, especially the power of public notaries and local administrative rules, which are deeply embedded in several EU countries. As one founder expressed his concerns on LinkedIn:
“I want to see it working for real, against the public notary power of each country and local bureaucracies, before I believe.”
The concern is that Europe’s most entrenched barriers to startup formation are not abstract rules, but nationally mandated processes enforced by law. In countries like Italy, Spain, and many others in Eastern Europe, opening a company or many other similar actions still require in-person appearances before public notaries, physical signatures, and locally filed documentation, often in the national language. These requirements are not procedural preferences; they are embedded in national company law and protected by regulated professions with significant influence.
Beyond incorporation mechanics, there is also uncertainty around how EU Inc. will interact with national fiscal and labor frameworks, and founders raise similar concerns:
“I’m very curious to see how this will work in practice. Is this ‘entity’ fiscally bound by local laws? It seems like it will exist outside local regulatory bodies.”
The question, then, is whether EU Inc. can operate above these systems rather than alongside them. Unless the 28th regime allows founders and investors to incorporate, amend governance, and execute transactions without triggering local notary involvement or duplicative national procedures, it risks becoming an additional layer rather than a replacement.
What Happens Next for EU INC?
EU Inc. has now entered what proponents describe as its “hot phase.” According to Andreas Klinger, the European Commission is expected to publish its formal proposal for implementing the 28th regime in March, under the leadership of Justice Commissioner Michael McGrath. At this stage, the debate has moved beyond whether a pan-European company structure should exist and toward how it will be designed and executed.
The coming weeks will be decisive. While political agreement to advance EU Inc. appears to be in place, the practical details are still being negotiated. The final proposal will signal whether the EU is prepared to deliver a genuinely pan-European corporate infrastructure, or whether the 28th regime risks becoming another well-intentioned framework constrained by compromise.
The proposal is expected by the end of March and will offer us a concrete look at whether EU INC. is positioned to function as a scalable, widely adopted alternative to national company forms.
🌍 Across the Ecosystem | EU INC & the 28th Regime
In the days following the announcement in Davos, conversation across Europe’s startup and investment ecosystem has shifted quickly from whether a pan-European company structure is needed to how it will work in practice. Founders, investors, and policy groups are broadly aligned on the problem EU INC. is trying to solve, regulatory fragmentation, but opinions diverge sharply on implementation, timelines, and trade-offs.
Below is a snapshot of how the debate is unfolding across the ecosystem.
🗞️ News | Too American? Brussels’ embrace of US corporate jargon sparks language row
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen suggested calling the proposal “EU Inc.” during a speech in Davos, instead of its technical name, the “28th regime.” That idea immediately upset several EU lawmakers, who argue that “Inc.” is a U.S.-specific legal term and a bad fit for Europe, especially given rising anti-American sentiment and tensions with the U.S. under President Donald Trump.
Critics say the name reflects a broader trend of EU leaders adopting U.S. corporate and political language, like calling laws “Acts” (such as the Digital Markets Act and AI Act), which some see as abandoning Europe’s legal and cultural traditions.
🎧 Podcast | Europe’s Plan to Finally Unleash its Startups | 28th Regime with Greta Koch & Iwoana Biernat
In a recent LuminaTalks episode, policymakers and ecosystem advocates unpack the rationale behind EU INC. and the proposed 28th regime, framing it as a potential turning point for how startups are built and scaled across Europe.
The discussion focuses less on announcement optics and more on structural constraints—why fragmented company law, slow incorporation processes, and uneven governance frameworks have limited Europe’s competitiveness, and what a unified corporate layer could change in practice.