EU Inc: your new European business in 48 hours - press point by President von der Leyen

Today, at the tap of a finger, capital moves instantly, data travels across the globe in seconds.

Yet, in Europe, it can still take weeks or even months to set up a company.

Or to start doing business in another country within the single market.

Barriers inside Europe hurt us more than tariffs from the outside.

Across our union, entrepreneurs who want to scale up are the first victims of regulatory fragmentation.

Instead of one market, they face 27 legal systems and more than 60 national company forms.

And the consequences are real.

The time and money spent filling paperwork is not spent on creating or innovating.

Obviously, this must change and fast.

And so, here comes EU Inc, the 28th regime.

EU Inc creates a single European company framework.

It is one simple set of rules that works across our entire single market of 450 million consumers.

It will make it drastically easier to start and to grow a business in Europe.

Any entrepreneur will be able to create a company within 48 hours from anywhere in the European Union, fully digitalized,

for less than 100 euros, and without minimum share capital.

And at the heart of this proposal is one simple principle that says, "Once only."

Companies will provide their information to public authority, their data, one time only.

And that information will then be shared automatically between relevant administrations, from business registers to taxes, to social security, etc.

authorities, you just name it.

And this information will be stored and easily accessible in a new EU business register for EU Inc companies.

Now, the second feature.

At its core, EU Inc is digital.

EU Inc companies will operate in a fully digital environment, from registration to shareholder meetings, from document

storage to capital operations, it will all be supported by the new European Business Wallet.

So, companies will be able to manage their documents and communicate with other businesses and administrations

fully digitally in all 27 member states.

The third feature is talent promotion.

EU Inc will make it easier for companies to attract talent because there's certainly no shortage of that in Europe.

Our continent is a powerhouse of innovation.

Nearly one quarter of the world's scientific publications come from here, from the European Union.

And we have more early-stage startups than any other region globally.

Now, with EU Inc, employee stock options will be simpler to offer and easier to manage across borders.

So, it will help EU Inc companies to compete for the best people.

And founders will be able to protect EU Inc companies and employees from unwanted takeovers.

The fourth feature is cushioning risk.

In business, failure should not be the end of the road. It should be part of the journey.

road. It should be part of the journey.

With EU Inc, we want to reward entrepreneurship and make it less risky.

And this is why we will fully digitalize insolvency procedures and introduce a fast-track insolvency process for startups,

so that entrepreneurs can start again more easily.

And finally, let me be very clear on one important point.

The EU Inc proposal will, in every way, respect existing social standards and labor law.

And this includes employees' rights to participate in companies' boards.

This proposal includes strong safeguards to ensure that such rules are applied.

So, to conclude, EU Inc is faster, it is cheaper, it is fully digitalized for all stages of the process all across the European

Union.

And this is only the beginning.

We will make it easier for venture capital to flow to businesses.

This will be done by the Savings and Investment Union.

We will explore new possibilities for cross-border telework for startups and scale-ups.

And today, we also adopted a recommendation to harmonize the definition of innovative startups and scale-ups across Europe,

so that we can design better policies to help our businesses to grow and to thrive in Europe.

And this is the overall objective, one Europe, one market. Thank you very much.