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EU–INC – A new pan-European legal entity

eu-inc.org

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Re: EU–INC – A new pan-European legal entity

#331

Post by prasoon2211 »

scirob wrote: post #315
apexalpha wrote: post #252

As a Dutch person I never understood this push until someone told me (and this is true in 2026!!!) that if you open a LLC (Gmbh?) in Germany you have to physically go to the notary and have a person READ OUT all the statutes to you. The whole process including banks accounts etc... can apparently take months in total. Personally I would not create "EU-INC" but just make all local entities legal in every country. Then…

Looks like as per 2022 it is possible to register a GMBH in Germany fully online https://www.brak.de/newsroom/news/gmbh-und-ug-koennen-ab-1-a... also https://www.ihk.de/stuttgart/fuer-unternehmen/recht-und-steu... here are the online notaries: https://online.notar.de/ Firma.de estimates 6 weeks https://www.firma.de/en/company-formation/how-to-set-up-a-gm... beglaubigt.de estimates 3 weeks https://beglaubigt.de/ug-gru…

I founded a UG and a GmbH in 2024. It took me 3 months total including visits to the notary (who charges a non-insignificant sum for their services).

I did this as a subsidiary for a US company and literally had to email and call people every few days to move the process along (mostly, it was the banks who somehow expected us to be a multi-national company and wanted to charge an arm and a leg just to let us open a bank account. Most banks outright refused us).

When the notary finally filed the paperwork to the court, the court replied after a few weeks with additional clarifications for which we had to go AGAIN to the notary to do the whole song and dance of them chanting at us in German at 1000 words per minute.

Everything took painfully long and delayed investment for while. People have absolutely no idea how painful it is to merely have the incorporated entity available. Then, it takes a few weeks to get your tax ID - this is when you can start employing people / accepting payments etc.

Re: EU–INC – A new pan-European legal entity

#332

Post by arka2147483647 »

veltas wrote: post #197
arka2147483647 wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Delaware C-corp, UK Ltd is OK too Neither of which is in EU, which is exactly the point. Should be an EU one which is usable...

The title says "One Europe" and "Pan-European".

This is a EU initiative. Confusingly, EU is often called Europe in spoken/non-official speech. Sort of the same way it is said that Washington does something, when it is the US gov doing something.

Re: EU–INC – A new pan-European legal entity

#333

Post by whizzter »

oellegaard wrote: post #228

I have seen promotion of this idea multiple times but every time I read about it I fail to understand the gains. I’m based in Denmark and have incorporated multiple companies. It is very easy and digital and costs very little, even if you get a lawyer to do it for you. Maybe the issue is a few member states that are behind on digitalization? In my experience EU is better at setting the guidelines and then the member…

Yep, same feeling as a Swede with so much being streamlined online, but at the same time I can see how it'd be a nightmare for someone without a BankID (or in Denmark MitID).

Re: EU–INC – A new pan-European legal entity

#334

Post by embedding-shape »

goldenarm wrote: post #329
embedding-shape wrote: post #318

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This submission originally did link to https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/da/speech... , but was later changed to this. Or two submissions (one for each URL) was linked/merged. But something used to link to the press release rather than this website, FWIW. Also, about reducing it down to "an Ad for unofficial merch", isn't this literally the grassroot movement that led to what was announced today? Or…

[deleted]

> The grassroot movement is from https://proposal.eu-inc.org

So correct me if I had way too little coffee, but that subdomain is under eu-inc.org meaning eu-inc.org is in fact the grassroot movement then? I don't understand the complaint, seems to be the right people? You're mad about that they also sell hats?

Re: EU–INC – A new pan-European legal entity

#335

Post by dewey »

goldenarm wrote: post #311

@dang This post is an Ad for unofficial merch, profiting from an ongoing news story. Should we change the URL ? https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/da/speech... https://tech.eu/2026/01/20/the-european-commission-launches-...

That's not someone profiting from the news story. It's the website of the group of people who were pushing that, talking to the EU and lobbying for it for a while.

It's even linked on the website of the organizers behind it https://klinger.io and https://www.linkedin.com/company/eu-inc/about/

Re: EU–INC – A new pan-European legal entity

#336

Post by bluecalm »

baby wrote: post #298
academia_hack wrote: post #168

It's inordinately difficult and expensive to start an LLC or SA in some EU countries. It's even difficult and expensive to _stop_ an LLC and dissolve it. Huge amount of risk and cost on founders and a huge distraction from running a business. I think that EU-Inc _could_ be an improvement, but it needs to avoid the committee laundry list of ideas/requirements/form fields that plagues the EU startup ecosystem. My worry…

Having a startup in the US is a huge mess due to all the states and taxes, if Europe can make everything digital AND easier, it's a no brainer for us to move our company there.

>>Having a startup in the US is a huge mess due to all the states and taxes,

In EU you will need to deal with VAT basically from day one (10k EUR of revenue). In US you will not deal with it until you can afford it as thresholds are very generous.

Re: EU–INC – A new pan-European legal entity

#337

Post by embedding-shape »

closewith wrote: post #280
embedding-shape wrote: post #220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This seems like a tautology - the VCs you've worked with in Europe invest in Europe. But the claim was that early stage VCs in Europe invest in US instead, contrary to my experience. If they were instead investing in US companies, I'd see that instead, I don't know if I used the wrong word here, where exactly is the tautology? I don't understand the assumption that I wouldn't know what my peers are up to, unless yo…

> But the claim was that early stage VCs in Europe invest in US instead, contrary to my experience. If they were instead investing in US companies, I'd see that instead, I don't know if I used the wrong word here, where exactly is the tautology? Not to disrespect your experience, but I don't it is particularly relevant, because the capital deployment from EU HNW is overwhelming deployed outside the bloc, largely in t…

> because the capital deployment from EU HNW is overwhelming deployed outside the bloc, largely in the US.

Again, that directly goes against my own experience with the very same people you say are investing largely in the US. Not sure if I'm not being clear, or if I'm using the wrong words, but clearly something is missing/misunderstood here.

Re: EU–INC – A new pan-European legal entity

#338

Post by matesz »

inanothertime wrote: post #261
matesz wrote: post #216

My Dear German friends, please accept that EU-inc is a massive boost for EU competitiveness. Continuing to block progress here only proves that the EU is good at making promises on paper but fails to deliver real change. The reason this "28th regime" actually works—and bypasses the previous vetos — is that it’s optional. It doesn’t try to force Germany to change its local GmbH laws or kill the notary system overnight…

National sovereignty is not national pride. Paying company taxes to the 28th regime evicts tax contributions to the company's home nation. Massive German tax money is already today used for non-national interests. EU-inc makes this only worse.

I don't understand the tax objection. The 28th regime changes corporate law, not fiscal law. A Berlin-based "EU-Inc" still pays full taxes (Körperschaftsteuer, Gewerbesteuer, etc.) to the local Finanzamt. It isn't a disembodied tax haven - it just standardizes the legal wrapper.

You are right that this threatens the status quo, though. If this works, founders based in Germany will likely abandon the GmbH. That will require swallowing some national pride and admitting that the current system is simply a less efficient, less competitive legal form for high-growth companies.

One thing I think is also worth mentioning are labor rights. I am not arguing against the German model of employee protection. Mitbestimmung could be viewed as a good thing, even if it will mean less power to the VC and / or founders. And frankly, I don't care if the consensus forces strict, German-style Mitbestimmung on the EU-Inc. Stricter form of EU-INC is still vastly better than nothing at all.

Asianometry has a great video on the labor rights in germany btw - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0teMtLT9XI).

Re: EU–INC – A new pan-European legal entity

#339

Post by fhennig »

petcat wrote: post #83

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?

I don't think the VC-based start-up system with pure profit in mind and an exit at some point and then who-cares-about-the-product is something I want to see more of.
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