The 28th regime – a planned EU-wide company entity to reduce barriers for startups – should be available to all companies, not limited to “innovative” ones, Startup Commissioner Ekaterina Zaharieva said in Brussels on Tuesday.
So far, the Commission has pitched the project as aimed at making life simpler for “innovative companies”, including in its competitiveness compass in January. But supporters are worried that the criteria would make it all but impossible to decide which businesses are in-scope.
Speaking at the European Angel Investment Summit, Zaharieva argued that trying to politically nail down a definition for “innovative” could delay the reform for “years”. “I believe it should be open,” she said.
The commissioner also reiterated that she wants the 28th regime to be realised through a regulation instead of a directive. But she acknowledged that there are different opinions within the EU’s executive and its wider support services on the legal form it should take, noting: “There are debates in the Commission, in the services.”
According to people familiar with discussions on the reform, DG Justice has been more cautious than DG Research, i.e. Zaharieva’s division. Both Commission units are involved in project planning through a cross-department task force on startups and scaleups.
Interestingly, in her remarks today Zaharieva suggested that a 28th regime regulation would not require unanimous approval by EU capitals – which is what proponents of a directive want to avoid.
“It is corporate law only – we don’t need unanimity to make regulations,” she said.
(nl)
