Europe Has a Single Market. So Why Is It Still So Hard to Build a European Company?

Today, EU ministers are meeting in Brussels to discuss the future of EU Inc. — a proposed new corporate framework that could make it easier to build and scale companies across Europe.

By Nikolai Nalu Heering

I have built businesses across Europe.

I am Danish. I live in Spain. I have produced goods in Hungary, Italy, Turkey, Greece, Slovakia, Latvia, Spain, Belgium and Portugal, operated through the UK and spent several years in the United States.

And I have experienced first-hand what it means to build across European borders.

Different company structures. Different tax systems. Different rules. Different languages. Different administrations.

Sometimes, despite the European Single Market, it can feel like operating in several different countries that happen to be next to each other.

That is why I am following EU Inc. with particular interest.

And right now, the debate is becoming especially relevant. Today, 24 September, EU ministers are meeting in Brussels, where the proposed 28th regime for company law — EU Inc. — is on the agenda of the Competitiveness Council. The European Commission has called for an agreement on the proposal by the end of 2026.

Europe is trying to build a European company

In March 2026, the European Commission proposed EU Inc., a new optional corporate framework designed to make it easier for companies to start, operate and scale across the EU.

The idea is remarkably simple: instead of navigating different national corporate regimes, a founder could choose a harmonised European company form.

The proposal includes fully digital procedures, registration within 48 hours in standard cases, a maximum registration cost of €100, no minimum share capital, simplified procedures throughout the company's life cycle, easier digital share transfers and a common optional framework for employee stock options.

EU Inc. would exist alongside national company forms rather than replacing them. It is intended to give European businesses another option: a company designed for the European market.

Why does this matter?

Because Europe has built a huge Single Market without creating an equally simple corporate infrastructure underneath it.

The European Commission describes the current landscape as fragmented across 27 national legal systems and more than 60 company legal forms. For a company operating in one country, that may not be a major issue. For a company trying to grow across Europe, it can become a significant source of friction.

And friction has a cost.

More lawyers. More administration. More compliance. More time.

And potentially less capital flowing across borders.

Look at who is asking Brussels not to dilute it

This is what caught my attention.

In September, 50 European CEOs and investors signed a joint letter urging EU policymakers not to weaken EU Inc. during the negotiations.

The signatories include founders and investors associated with companies and investment firms such as Spotify, Mistral AI, Revolut, DeepL, Wolt, Too Good To Go, ICEYE, Index Ventures, Accel, Balderton, Atomico and EQT.

The separate EU–INC campaign, which describes itself as a grassroots initiative, says that more than 26,000 founders, investors, operators, lawyers, journalists and policy advocates across 27 countries have supported its campaign for a pan-European corporate standard.

Among the issues being debated are whether companies should be able to freely choose their registered office, whether EU Inc. should be available beyond innovative startups, and whether there should be a genuinely European company register rather than simply an interface connecting national systems.

These details matter because they will determine what EU Inc. actually becomes.

The Delaware comparison

EU Inc. has been compared with Delaware in the United States.

The comparison is not perfect, but the underlying idea is useful.

American companies and investors have a familiar corporate framework that can be used across a huge domestic market.

Europe has a similarly enormous market — but with much more fragmented corporate infrastructure.

I have experienced that fragmentation myself.

And I keep coming back to the same question:

Why does Europe make it so difficult to be European?

Europe does not lack ambition

This is what makes the issue interesting.

Europe has entrepreneurs. It has capital. It has engineers, scientists and universities. It has world-class industrial companies and some of the world's most successful technology businesses.

Spotify. Revolut. DeepL. Mistral. Wolt. ICEYE.

The question is whether the systems around them are helping them scale.

That is why EU Inc. matters.

It is not a solution to every competitiveness problem facing Europe. But it is an attempt to align Europe's corporate infrastructure with the reality of a European Single Market.

My own experience makes this more than an abstract debate

I am currently an autónomo in Barcelona.

That works for what I am doing today.

But imagine trying to structure a major European investment platform through the same fragmented environment.

Imagine raising hundreds of millions — or billions — of euros for a European infrastructure project.

Suddenly, the questions multiply.

Where should the company be incorporated? Which legal structure? Which jurisdiction? Which documents? Which employment rules? Which reporting requirements?

And what happens when the company expands into another European country?

These are not theoretical questions to me. I have dealt with the practical reality of moving businesses across European borders.

That is why I find EU Inc. so compelling.

Europe Has the Market. Now It Needs the Company.

Europe has spent decades building the Single Market.

The next step is making the infrastructure underneath that market work at the same scale.

EU Inc. will not solve Europe's competitiveness problem by itself. But it could remove one unnecessary obstacle: the difficulty of building a company that is genuinely European.

The final details matter.

And those details are being negotiated now.

For anyone interested in Europe's ability to build, invest and scale at continental level, this is worth watching.

Because Europe already has the market.

Now it needs the company.

Nikolai Nalu Heering