Why EU Inc. Is the Test of Europe’s Single Market

Across Brussels, Berlin, and Davos, the emerging question is a simple one: can Europe make operating across its borders as easy as operating within one country? That is the metric by which EU Inc., the much-debated “28th regime,” will ultimately be judged.

The real issue is not the label, but whether this new legislative initiative can finally strip away the red tape and fragmentation holding European firms back. If it succeeds, EU Inc. could mark a genuine turning point for the Single Market. If it fails, it risks joining a long list of well-intentioned but marginal reforms.

The Problem: Scale Still Eludes Europe

Europe’s Single Market is often described as one of the EU’s greatest assets. Yet for many companies, particularly high-growth startups and scale-ups, it remains fragmented in practice.

Expanding from one member state to another still means navigating different rules on incorporation, corporate governance, taxation, labour law, and employee equity. Each new market adds legal and administrative friction, raising costs and slowing expansion. For some firms, that friction caps ambition. For others, it becomes a reason to relocate entirely.
This concern is no longer confined to industry lobbying. Founders and investors consistently tell policymakers that scaling a company across the EU often feels harder than doing so in more integrated markets, such as the United States. 

That reality was acknowledged at the World Economic Forum in Davos earlier this year. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen warned that talent and capital are highly mobile, and that many entrepreneurs choose to grow their businesses elsewhere because scaling outside the EU is simply easier. Reducing unnecessary regulatory complexity, she argued, is not a matter of convenience. It is a strategic imperative for Europe’s competitiveness.
 

Why Timing Matters

The push for EU Inc. comes at a moment of strategic urgency. Europe is facing slower productivity growth, intensifying global competition, and mounting geopolitical uncertainty. Policymakers are increasingly explicit that fragmentation within the Single Market is no longer a tolerable inefficiency. It is a competitiveness risk.
At the same time, capital, talent, and innovation are mobile. If Europe cannot offer scale on European terms, companies will find it elsewhere. EU Inc. is therefore not just a business-friendly reform. It is a defensive and strategic one.

Label or Leverage? What EU Inc. Must Deliver

The danger is obvious. EU Inc. could become another optional badge layered on top of existing complexity. If that happens, it will fail. To matter, EU Inc. must deliver on three fronts.

First, replace fragmentation with real uniformity. This goes beyond mutual recognition or minimum standards. Companies opting into EU Inc. should operate under the same core corporate rules wherever they are active, from governance structures to digital incorporation. Without that consistency, the regime risks reproducing the very complexity it claims to solve.

Second, make cross-border growth operationally boring. Success here is unglamorous. It means fast digital setup, interoperable registries, predictable compliance, and minimal administrative repetition. If expanding from one member state to another still requires armies of lawyers and consultants, the system has missed its point.

Third, unlock capital and talent at scale. Europe’s fragmented frameworks for employee participation, equity incentives, and investment structures make it harder for firms to compete for skilled workers and long-term funding. A credible EU-wide regime should make it easier, not harder, to offer equity, attract investors, and structure growth without reinventing the wheel in each jurisdiction.

Not Deregulation, but Re-Integration

EU Inc. should not be misunderstood as deregulation. The goal is not to weaken protections, particularly for workers or creditors. Instead, the objective is regulatory coherence. Strong protections must coexist with predictable, scalable rules.

This distinction matters politically. A 28th Regime perceived as a shortcut around social or labour safeguards will struggle to gain trust. One that clearly embeds existing protections while removing unnecessary divergence stands a far better chance of acceptance and adoption.
 

A Litmus Test for the Single Market

In many ways, EU Inc. is a stress test for Europe’s broader ambitions. The EU has spent decades completing the Single Market for goods, yet services, capital, and corporate structures remain only partially integrated. If Europe cannot deliver a genuinely pan-European framework for its own companies, it raises uncomfortable questions about how far integration can realistically go.

That is why the most important metric for EU Inc. is not how many firms sign up in year one. It is whether cross-border expansion begins to feel routine rather than exceptional, and whether European scale stops being a strategic headache and becomes the default.
 

Conclusion: A Necessary, but Not Sufficient, Reform

EU Inc. will not solve Europe’s competitiveness challenges on its own. But without it, or something equally ambitious, those challenges will persist. Sitting at the intersection of corporate law, capital markets, digital governance, and labour mobility, the initiative should offer a clear signal of intent.

The choice is stark. EU Inc. can become another well-intentioned label, or it can provide the legal infrastructure that finally allows European companies to grow the way European citizens already live, across borders, by default.

FiscalNote’s EU policy intelligence platform, EU Issue Tracker (EUIT), provides comprehensive coverage of the 28th regime alongside other key EU business and consumer policy files. The platform tracks each dossier from the earliest signals of potential regulatory action through legislative debate, amendment, and adoption, giving users a complete view of the policy lifecycle.

FiscalNote’s Brussels-based team combines expert policy analysis with advanced technology to summarize each dossier, explain the latest developments, and assess how proposals interact with existing EU legislation. EUIT also maps relevant committees, key stakeholders, and anticipated timelines, offering actionable insight for organizations seeking to anticipate regulatory change or engage effectively in consultations.