EU Inc Statistics: The Numbers Behind the 28th Regime

This page collects the key numbers on EU Inc, the problem it targets, and the movement behind it, each with its source. Figures are drawn from primary sources (the European Commission, the European Parliament, the Draghi report and the Republic of Estonia) and cited at the point of use.

EU Inc at a glance

The March Commission proposal's headline numbers. These are proposal terms and projections, not results from a live regime. Later drafts can change them:

What the headline numbers mean in practice:

• One registration, valid as an EU-wide corporate form, instead of forming a new entity in each country.
• The "once-only principle": company data flows from the business register to tax, social security and beneficial-ownership authorities without the founder re-submitting it.
• An optional common EU employee stock option scheme (EU-ESO), with harmonised timing for the taxation of options.
• Simplified, digital liquidation for solvent companies, so founders can wind down and start again faster.

The fragmentation problem (why EU Inc exists)

Cross-border friction, in structures. EU companies maintain roughly 500,000 intra-EU subsidiaries and about 50,000 cross-border branches, against more than 4.3 million purely domestic branches, a sign of how much activity still stops at national borders (European Commission company-law impact assessment).

Today a founder who wants to operate in three EU countries can face three legal systems, three registration processes and three sets of paperwork. EU Inc replaces that with one company form recognised EU-wide.

The competitiveness gap (the Draghi report)

The case for EU Inc rests heavily on the September 2024 Draghi report on European competitiveness (383 pages), commissioned by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

The EU's workforce is projected to shrink by close to 2 million people every year from 2040, which is why the report argues future growth has to come from productivity and innovation rather than a growing labour force (Draghi report, Sept 2024).

The movement and legislative momentum

EU Inc began as a grassroots petition and became a Commission proposal in roughly 17 months. The petition's growth over time:

Earlier reported figures below describe the breadth of backing. They are not additional people to add to the current combined count:

The petition was launched on 14 October 2024 by Andreas Klinger (Prototype Capital) with co-initiators including Philipp Herkelmann, Simon Schaefer and Vojtech Horna, with early backing from founders linked to companies such as Stripe and Wise and investors including Index Ventures and Atomico. The full story is on our EU Inc initiative page.

Proof of demand today: Estonia e-Residency

EU Inc is still a proposal. Estonia's e-Residency programme provides digital access to online OÜ formation and administration, subject to the required identities and national rules. Its 2025 numbers illustrate demand for cross-border company services.

The top citizenships founding new Estonian companies in 2025 included Ukraine, Spain, Turkey, Germany and France, evidence that demand for an EU base is global, not local. An Estonian OÜ is a national company available today. Check the required digital identities, documents, address arrangements and separate card-collection timeline in our Estonia formation guide.

Timeline of key dates

• Sept 2024: Draghi report on European competitiveness published; calls for a 28th regime.
• 14 Oct 2024: EU Inc petition launched; around 11,000 signatures within days.
• Dec 2024: petition passes 13,000; first policy blueprint published.
• Jan 2025: the Commission's Competitiveness Compass announces a "28th regime".
• 20 Jan 2026: European Parliament adopts its 28th-regime recommendations (procedure 2025/2079(INL)), vote 492 to 144.
• 18 Mar 2026: Commission publishes the EU Inc proposal, COM(2026) 321 final, with impact assessment SWD(2026) 321 and its executive summary SWD(2026) 322.
• 19 Mar 2026: European Council names the 28th regime a priority and calls for adoption by the end of 2026.
• 28 May 2026: first minister-level debate on EU Inc at the Competitiveness Council.
• 9 Jul 2026: Parliament adopts a separate resolution on a possible tax module.
• 7 Sep 2026: the second Presidency draft proposes a 27-month application period after entry into force.
• 6 Oct 2026: Canfin reports that the committee vote will not happen that week.
• Checked 11 Oct 2026: the procedure file awaits a committee decision. Registration is not open.
• Target, end of 2026: the Commission's goal for political agreement between Parliament and Council. The exact date the form becomes usable is set in the final text, with no confirmed launch date.

Cite this page

Methodology and primary sources

• European Commission, EU Inc: a new harmonised corporate legal regime, the proposal COM(2026) 321 final and impact assessment SWD(2026) 322 final, 18 March 2026.
• European Commission news: EU Inc, making business easier in the European Union, 18 March 2026.
• Mario Draghi, The Future of European Competitiveness, European Commission, September 2024.
• European Parliament, report A10-0124/2025 (Draghi follow-up) and procedure 2025/2079(INL).
• Republic of Estonia, e-Residency programme statistics, 2025 results.