Starting a business in Europe remains a complex undertaking. Entrepreneurs seeking to expand beyond their home country must navigate multiple legal systems, administrative procedures and legal uncertainty.

Against this background, the ECR Group backs the European Parliament’s initiative to create a so-called 28th Regime — an optional European legal framework that would allow innovative companies to register digitally and operate across the EU under a single recognised set of rules, while leaving national competences, including taxation, unchanged. “These are practical steps to remove obstacles that weigh particularly heavily on small and innovative companies”, ECR Shadow Rapporteur Mario Mantovani said, speaking in the plenary debate in Strasbourg, setting out the case for reducing legal and administrative obstacles faced by start-ups seeking to scale across borders.

Mantovani said:

“Today, for a start-up or SME, expanding from one Member State to the rest of Europe is not an opportunity but a bureaucratic jungle that costs the Union hundreds of billions of euros each year in lost investment.

“The 28th Regime will remain optional and alternative to national company forms, offering a way to break down these barriers while respecting the prerogatives of Member States.”

“With this proposal, Parliament is giving the Commission clear direction: zero unnecessary bureaucracy, fully digital registration within 48 hours, a minimum share capital of one euro, and the elimination of mandatory legal reserves — a point I have personally fought for on behalf of SMEs.

Mantovani concluded:

“European businesses are asking for greater uniformity and fewer internal barriers. These are barriers we should have dismantled long ago if we want our start-ups to grow and stay in Europe.”

The legislative-initiative report calls on the European Commission to present a proposal in the first quarter of 2026. A vote in plenary is scheduled for Tuesday.