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EU–INC – A new pan-European legal entity

eu-inc.org

541–550 of 761 posts

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

#541

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…

> There needs to be UX requirements on the process from day one against which the end result is judged. (E.g. "a company should be able to register in x days", "a complete application should be no longer than y pages", "application costs should be less than z euros").

It was announced you will be able to create company fully online and will have it ready in max 48h.

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

#542

Unfortunately this does not override employment and tax laws - so you still cannot hire someone as an FTE in Paris, from a startup in Berlin for example (without them being a freelancer, or you opening a payroll / tax office in France). But hopefully we can move towards that - standardised taxation (especially VAT and corporation tax would help massively here), the abolition of notaries, standardised requirements for…

You still need a tax accountant in France to register the FTE and file paperwork with the tax office and social insurance.

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

#543

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> We don't want "at-will" employment like in the US. Only lazy people want to be employed for life somewhere. All the benefits, no responsibility.

No, we still work. Just want some continuity. Not working for a company without direction chasing the latest fad and dumping everyone if it doesn't work out, but a good company with a decent business plan.

Then go be an entrepreneur and create a company with no risk of failing. And let us know how that works out for you.

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

#544

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Mercosur deal is frozen now as it's just been referred to the CJEU [0], which means at least 1-2 years of litigation. [0] - https://www.reuters.com/world/eu-lawmakers-vote-whether-laun...

Hmm, less ideal. > A group of 144 lawmakers put forward a parliamentary motion to ask the EU Court of Justice to rule on whether the agreement can be applied before full ratification by all member states and whether its provisions restrict the EU's ability to set environmental and consumer health policies. The court typically takes around two years to deliver such opinions. Hopefully the court will take a look around…

The issue is this sends a negative message to Mercosur member states like Brazil, who are actively being wooed by the US such as by creating a US-Brazil Rare Earths Deal [0] and wooing Brazilian oligarch Batista brothers [1] (the oligarchs who owns much of Brazil's and North+South American agricultural capacity [2] and are the power behind the throne in Brazil) to get near-exclusive rights on distributing Venezuelan oil [3].

Now that the deal is de facto frozen, any remaining goodwill between Mercosur states and the EU will burn away (especially because Lula put his personal reputation on the line right before a highly contested election in Brazil and because Spanish politicians constantly meddle in South American culture wars [4] due to familial, financial, and linguistic ties), leaving the EU even more alone in an already lonely and dangerous world.

> although hopefully not compromising on "environmental and consumer health policies", that'd be a blunder of it's own.

This kind of stubbornness is why the EU is increasingly being isolated globally. Either make pragmatic deals on your own terms or end up being forced to by other countries on their terms.

[0] - https://www.ft.com/content/401a9e84-3034-4375-bf39-56b92500c...

[1] - https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/brazil-billionaire-b...

[2] - https://www.ft.com/content/d293237e-e39f-4f4c-89e7-4c52cf937...

[3] - https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-01-19/irmaos-ba...

[4] - https://apnews.com/general-news-d45baf0e625d4e0fa540b7a472bc...

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

#545

How is this different from an SE, which has been existing since 2004? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Societas_Europaea

> Current EU company structures like the European Company (SE) are made for public companies and ill-suited for startups due to high capital requirements, complex formation processes, and heavy administrative burdens. A flexible, tailored EU-wide entity for startups will solve these issues. From the FAQ https://www.eu-inc.org/faq

Thank you - it is indeed €120k minimum capital

Then I suggest they make noise to lower it to €1 - much easier than creating a new legal structure

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

#546
post #498

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the paperwork ended after one week, it wouldn’t be so bad, but it’s just the tip of the iceberg.

I don’t understand why people pretend there’s no paperwork to do in the US. Not only that, but different states have different processes. I think there are some misconceptions about the US and tend to over idealize, especially around paperwork and taxes. And I think it’s precisely that misconception that makes it appealing to foreigners and makes it an attractive place to be an entrepreneur. And again, yes, objective…

I agree that paperwork requirements exist on a spectrum, and I am only familiar with the requirements in a few different jurisdictions (though I've read a few comparisons with a wider variety).

The USA's success is definitely not entirely due to a lack of paperwork requirements, though I believe the paperwork requirements are something of a microcosm of other issues in each jurisdiction.

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

#547

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, we still work. Just want some continuity. Not working for a company without direction chasing the latest fad and dumping everyone if it doesn't work out, but a good company with a decent business plan.

Then go be an entrepreneur and create a company with no risk of failing. And let us know how that works out for you.

I don't want to be an entrepreneur. And it doesn't have to be riskless. Just to have a good business (plan).

But this is the status quo in Europe. Companies are forced to take failure into account before they dive in deep, because it will cost them. Provide benefits for their employees, etc. This is good. Companies exist to provide jobs. Not only to make money for the owner and externalise all the negative effects on society.

I just don't understand the desire to turn the EU into the US. If you like how business in the US works, just start your business there, not here. Meanwhile I as a worker would never consider moving there. This way we can both get what we want.

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

#549

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…

You don't need business plans and all that stuff. The problem in Germany for instance is that a GmbH needs 25k of capital + expensive notarization. These are the only two things that need improvement.

You can start an Unternehmergesellschaft (UG) within days with a template. However tax filing burdens will costs you around 2000€ baseline a year without having a single Euro of revenue let alone profit.

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

#550

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My experience with the US tax system is that you need to get approval to get non-profit status, and more in general I do think this has something to do with the price of eggs in the sense that you should obviously be prevented from being able to setup a non-profit company if what you're doing has nothing charitable about it. I made the mistake of leaving this unsaid, but 501c3 in the US also means that the company is…

> My experience with the US tax system is that you need to get approval to get non-profit status, I think in the majority of European cases you don't need prior approval. The UK is most likely the biggest exception where you can become either a non-profit or a charity. And if you want to become a charity in the UK, then yes there are more hoops to jump thorugh including approval from Charity Commission. But for Germa…

I see, thank you for the info!
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