Why EU Inc (the 28th Regime) and Real Collaboration Matter Now
Europe does not suffer from a lack of ideas, talent, or ambition.
What it lacks is speed, scale, and execution.
This was the core message behind a recent one-on-one exchange with Ekaterina Zaharieva, EU Commissioner for Startups, Research and Innovation, during the Allied for Startups General Assembly.
The discussion was not about abstract visions. It was about how Europe can finally deliver for founders — and why incremental changes are no longer enough.
Europe’s Startup Problem Is Structural, Not Cultural
European founders are not less ambitious than their US or Asian counterparts.
They are operating inside a fragmented system that makes scaling harder than it needs to be.
Key structural barriers repeatedly surface across the ecosystem:
- 27 legal systems instead of one
- Slow and complex company formation
- Fragmented capital markets
- Limited late-stage and risk-willing capital
- Public procurement processes that exclude innovation by default
These issues are well known. The problem is not diagnosis — it is execution.
EU Inc: The 28th Regime Is Not a Nice-to-Have
The concept of EU Inc (the 28th regime) is increasingly central to Europe’s competitiveness debate — and rightly so.
EU Inc should not be a symbolic label or a legal compromise.
It must be a genuinely European company framework, designed from first principles for startups and scaleups.
That means:
- Digital-first incorporation
- Fast establishment (measured in days, not months)
- One legal identity across the Single Market
- Founder-friendly governance
- Predictable rules for taxation, employee equity, and restructuring
- Legal certainty without copying 27 national systems into English
If EU Inc becomes just another layer of complexity, it will fail.
If done right, it could fundamentally change Europe’s startup trajectory.
Capital, Scale, and the Late-Stage Gap
Company structure alone will not solve Europe’s scaleup problem.
Europe still lacks:
- deep late-stage capital pools,
- consistent IPO pathways,
- and sufficient participation of pension funds and insurers in venture capital.
This is not about protectionism.
It is about ensuring that Europe does not systematically export its best companies once they reach scale.
Without stronger capital markets and long-term domestic investors, even the best startup policies will underperform.
From Policy Intent to Founder Reality
One recurring theme in the discussion was the gap between policy intent and founder experience.
Too often, Europe produces:
- well-written strategies,
- ambitious communications,
- and slow, diluted implementation.
Founders do not measure success by white papers.
They measure it by:
- time to incorporate,
- access to capital,
- speed of hiring,
- ability to sell to public institutions,
- and how easily they can scale across borders.
If policy does not improve these realities, it does not work — regardless of how well intentioned it is.
Why Collaboration Is No Longer Optional
Strengthening Europe’s startup ecosystem cannot be done by policymakers alone — nor by the private sector in isolation.
Real progress requires:
- continuous dialogue, not one-off consultations,
- trust between institutions and founders,
- and a willingness to test, iterate, and correct policy quickly.
This is precisely why organizations like Allied for Startups — and ecosystem builders such as Startup Disrupt — play a critical role: translating founder reality into actionable policy input.
What Success Actually Looks Like
Europe will know it is succeeding when:
- startups choose EU Inc by default,
- scaleups stay European by choice, not constraint,
- late-stage capital is available locally,
- and public institutions buy from innovative companies as a rule, not an exception.
Competitiveness will not be won through declarations.
It will be won through execution, speed, and systemic reform.
Startup Disrupt’s Role
At Startup Disrupt, our mission is clear:
to ensure that founders’ voices shape Europe’s innovation future, not as a slogan, but as a structural reality.
The conversation around EU Inc, capital markets, and execution is no longer theoretical.
The window for delivery is now.
Europe does not need more ambition.
It needs results.
