EU Inc.: Facilitating Business Operations in the European Union

Unlocking the full potential of the Single Market for Europe's entrepreneurs: On 18 March 2026 the European Commission presented its proposal for EU Inc., which is an optional, digital-by-default European corporate framework. It will make it easier for businesses to start, operate and grow across the EU – incentivizing them to stay in Europe, and encourage those who once looked elsewhere to return.

European innovative companies are faced with 27 national legal systems and more than 60 company legal forms. This complexity can delay the setting-up of a company for weeks or even months, slowing growth, raising costs and discouraging scale. 

EU Inc. is at the heart of the Commission's response to these challenges: coming in the form of a regulation, it will provide a single harmonized set of corporate rules that companies can choose instead of navigating multiple national regimes, unlocking the true potential of the Single Market.

Main features of EU Inc. include:

Faster registration: Entrepreneurs, founders, and companies will be able to establish an EU Inc. company within 48 hours.

Simpler procedures: EU Inc. companies will only need to submit their company information once, via an EU-level interface.

Fully digital operations: Corporate processes will be digital by default throughout a company's lifecycle.

Flexibility of shares: EU Inc. companies will have the flexibility to create different classes of shares with varying economic or voting rights.

Further incentive measures are: Helping founders restart faster and cheaper, better conditions to attract investment, better means to attract talents, full access to the Single Market and strong safeguards against abuse.

More details to be found here.