The Davos meeting in Switzerland has brought with it some relief, as President Trump backed away from both tariffs and military action as options for acquiring Greenland, but also sombre warnings from the likes of Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. What might have been the biggest news to fly under the radar was that of the official introduction of EU-Inc, a new initiative taken on by the Commission that could massively reshape the future of the EU as a superpower. In broad strokes, it is intended to be a legal framework which would allow a new company to incorporate across all 27 members in just two days, thus removing the most significant hurdle young startups and scale-ups face today. Currently, you can only incorporate in one country and if you wish to expand you would then have to incorporate 27 times through a complex system of shell companies and costly legal fees. Mario Draghi once cited a report from the IMF stating that these internal barriers to trade within the bloc translates to about a 45% tariff on goods, and a jaw-dropping 110% on services.
If EU-Inc passes, it would open up a whole different level of possibility within the European market as well as deepen integration in the EU’s march towards federalism. Deregulating the markets and eliminating the remaining barriers between them will have a lot of positive upsides for the Nordic countries, even those outside of the EU. Before that, what does EU-Inc include exactly, and when can we expect it to pass?
What is EU-Inc?
Initiated by Austrian entrepreneur and angel investor Andreas Klinger, the EU-Inc petition quickly gained over 22,000 signatures from European founders, venture capitalists and startup leaders. Fundamentally, it proposed an optional “28th regime” corporate form that would allow entrepreneurs to incorporate a single legal entity once, under uniform EU rules, enabling seamless interoperation across all 27 member states without needing separate national subsidiaries. While the focus of the EU over the past 20 years has been on political and monetary integration, its original purpose of enabling trade has been less of a focus. As the economies of the Western world have slowly shifted away from goods into one driven by services, the EU has effectively kneecapped itself with these internal barriers (starkly visible in the estimated 110% tariff mentioned in the opening paragraph). EU-Inc could enable cash to flow within the union like never before, which could hopefully encourage growth well beyond the technology sector, and help alleviate some of the stagnation that has been a persistent problem for the EU.
Furthermore, the core proposal includes fully online registration within 48 hours, a central EU-registry, and harmonised rules across the member states in regard to governance within the corporation’s structure. This means no physical paperwork or notaries required, and a unified digital one-stop shop for incorporation, filings, and legal status verification across the EU, with an EU-Dashboard for management. There are a number of ways this could become annoying and bureaucratic, but it more than compensates for this through the cost savings and sheer convenience. On top of this, they also include EU-FAST to assist and speed up early-stage fundraising (effectively a form of convertible note that is no longer legally considered debt) and an EU-ESOP framework for uniform employee share option plans in order to attract talent both within and outside the EU. In summary, this framework is set to provide a much-needed boost to European startups, particularly within the tech sector, which at nearly €4 trillion represents 15% of the EU’s GDP.
Before anyone gets too excited, it should be noted that this is still only a proposal. After Klinger’s petition, the Commission conducted a survey of thousands of startup founders, employees and investors, and made these suggestions based on the results of that survey. These early proposals could change, be expanded or be minimised as they go through the process of ratification, and member states get to have their input. The Commission is expected to put forward the proposal in Q1 of 2026, which then has to pass through both the Parliament and the Council, where there is a significant risk the proposal could stall due to questions regarding labour standards and insolvency proceedings. However, if proceedings are smooth (which they likely won’t be), the first registrations can begin between 2027-2028.
What It Means for Us
Of course, EU-Inc would be a massive boost for the European market in general, but it would also be a massive gain for the Nordics in particular. Denmark, Sweden and Finland already have thriving startup scenes and are well ahead of many of their EU peers in terms of unicorns produced per capita. However, many founders feel the need to go to the US, or at least incorporate their business entities there, in order for their companies to reach their full potential – EU-Inc would hopefully enable them to stay and take advantage of a more deeply integrated home market. This could make them more competitive on the global market, particularly when compared to the US in talent acquisition and retention. Currently, American companies can offer higher salaries, but if this new proposal functions as it should, the EU (and thus the Nordics) could eventually become competitive with the US – and more immediately compete with American stock option programmes. The Nordics can also offer a high standard of living and rigorous labour laws, something that already gives the Nordics an edge in talent acquisition.
Norway and Iceland, who are not members of the EU, will not automatically gain access to EU-Inc through their membership of the EEA (European Economic Area, which extends the single market to three non-members of the EU). This will need to be further negotiated, something the Norwegian and Icelandic startup scenes will lobby hard for as to not lose companies and talent to Sweden, Denmark and Finland. This would likely take longer, and so EU-Inc can’t be expected to be open to Norway and Iceland until 2028 or later in the best-case scenario. EU accession is once more a hot topic in these two countries following the past years geopolitical turbulence, and this could be one more factor pushing them to finally take that last step.
In summary, EU-Inc would be a pretty one-sidedly good thing for the Nordics. The EU has gotten a bad rap lately, criticized for its military weakness, slowness and kowtowing to President Trump. However, the potential of the EU, and thus the potential of the Nordics, is lost in these debates. With the right push, it has the potential to be a superpower rivalling China and the US. It has the people, the wealth and the technology to do so – but it lacks the cohesion. EU-Inc is a step in the right direction to rectify these problems, and another rung on the ladder towards federalisation.