This past Friday, David Clarinval, on behalf of Belgium, voted in favour of the proposed regulation creating a genuine European company, the EU Inc. The 28th regime offers businesses a unique, optional and harmonised European legal framework, which is added to the 27 national company laws. A start-up or scale-up will thus be able to form and develop across the entire internal market under common rules, without having to contend with the diversity of national legislation or incur additional steps and costs in each Member State. The Minister for the Economy, David Clarinval, welcomes this major step forward, both economically and symbolically.
David Clarinval, Minister for the Economy: "We want to make Europe a space where innovative companies can be born, develop, grow and reach an international scale, without being held back by the fragmentation of our internal market. By making it easier to create and develop start-ups and scale-ups at European level, we are giving ourselves the means to innovate and strengthen our competitiveness. By supporting this text, Belgium is choosing an integrated Europe that is favourable to entrepreneurs."
The compromise reached by the Irish presidency is the result of significant efforts. Belgium's support comes with the determination to preserve, and if possible strengthen, during the trilogue negotiations, the provisions aimed at preventing forum shopping (the practice of strategically choosing the most advantageous legal system, state or jurisdiction, rather than the one that would normally apply or be most closely linked to the actual situation), avoiding gaps in the social framework, and combating fraud.
The proposal is expected to be adopted by the European legislator before the end of the year, once the trilogue negotiations have been finalised.