EU Inc dream meets Council reality

Ministers poked several holes in the proposal for EU Inc – an EU-wide business entity – during a Council meeting in Brussels on Thursday.

The Commission pitched the EU Inc project in March, arguing it would make life easier for European startups. Ursula von der Leyen has repeatedly positioned the project as a centrepiece of the EU’s drive to speed up its sluggish economy.

But as MEPs and capitals started digging into the details, several key points stood out even though the proposal’s core idea is widely popular.

Ministers pointed to issues that had already arisen as friction points in prior talks between technical experts: feared effects on workers’ rights, possibly insufficient checks to prevent criminals from abusing the new corporate entity, and rehashed insolvency provisions.

Worried workers

The question of exactly how EU Inc will impact employees’ rights, which differ widely across EU countries, has moved to the centre of early talks about the project.

While the…