The EU Inc. (S.EU) is the most significant reform to European company law in a generation. Here's everything you need to know.
The EU Inc. is a new type of company that is valid across all 27 EU member states under a single registration. You form it once, online, in 48 hours, with €1 of minimum capital and no notary required. It was proposed by the European Commission on March 18, 2026 and is expected to become law by end of 2026, with formations opening in 2027.
Until now, if you wanted to operate a company across multiple EU countries, you had two options: form a separate legal entity in each country (expensive, slow, complex), or use an existing pan-European structure like the Societas Europaea (SE) — which requires €120,000 in share capital and is designed for large corporations, not startups.
The EU Inc. changes this entirely. It creates a simple, affordable, digital-first company structure that any founder — anywhere in the world — can use to establish a legal presence across the entire EU Single Market.
The European Commission formally proposed the S.EU on March 18, 2026 as part of its broader European Business Act. The proposal is now moving through the European Parliament's legislative process, with a committee vote expected in Q2 2026 and a full Parliament vote by the end of 2026.
EU-FAST (European Fast And Streamlined Template) is the digital formation process built into the EU Inc. framework. It allows founders to complete their company registration entirely online, without visiting a notary, without physical presence in any EU country, and without paper documents. The target formation time is 48 hours from submission to company number.
The EU Inc. legislation includes a standardised employee stock option plan (ESOP) framework — called EU-ESO — that makes it straightforward to offer equity to employees across different EU member states. Previously, offering equity across borders required navigating different national legal frameworks. EU-ESO creates a single, portable standard.
The Delaware LLC is the gold standard for US-facing companies: simple to form, flexible, and recognised globally. The EU Inc. is the equivalent for European operations — simple to form, affordable, and valid across the entire EU Single Market. Many founders will use both: a Delaware LLC for US operations and fundraising, and an EU Inc. for European operations and hiring.
Read our full comparison: EU Inc. vs Delaware LLC
The EU Inc. law is expected to pass by the end of 2026. Formations are expected to open in 2027. Euralto is taking priority reservations now — a $49 fully refundable deposit locks in your position at the front of the queue.
Euralto is a formation intermediary — we handle everything through licensed EU formation agents for a single flat fee of $499, with no hidden costs. Think Stripe Atlas, but for the EU Inc. One fee, fully online, from anywhere in the world.
Europe already has one pan-European company form: the Societas Europaea (SE), in place since 2004. But the SE was built for large corporations — it requires €120,000 in minimum capital, typically demands conversion from an existing national company, involves notaries, and takes months. The EU Inc. is its opposite in almost every respect: formed from scratch, digitally, in 48 hours, with no minimum capital and no notary, and aimed squarely at startups and SMEs. The SE isn't going anywhere; the EU Inc. fills the gap the SE never addressed. It's also the political successor to the failed SPE (Societas Privata Europaea), the European private company proposal that stalled between 2008 and 2014 — this time with a different legislative route.
You'll see the same project under multiple labels: EU Inc. is the Commission's name from the March 2026 draft regulation; S.EU comes from the European Parliament's January 2026 resolution; and the 28th regime is the umbrella term for the whole political framework — a single optional rulebook sitting alongside the 27 national systems. Media and practitioners use all three interchangeably. They refer to one and the same initiative. In the draft regulation itself, the legal denomination is simply “EU Inc.” — companies must append it to their name, used unaltered and untranslated in every member state, alongside a European Unique Identifier (EUID) and an EU Company Certificate that's accepted across borders without apostille.
The harmonisation has deliberate limits: tax law, insolvency law, and employment and co-determination law all remain national, following the law of the member state where the EU Inc. is registered. The EU Inc. is not a tax vehicle — corporate income tax, VAT, and payroll obligations apply exactly as they would for any local company in the registration state. That also means the choice of registration country will matter, and member states are expected to compete on speed, cost, and administrative quality.
The draft also introduces the European Business Wallet — a digital identity and document portfolio so company data is submitted once and reused EU-wide, including for tax and VAT identification numbers.
The Commission frames the EU Inc. as the centerpiece of the "28th regime" — an optional, harmonised corporate legal regime that sits alongside the 27 national systems rather than replacing them. Today, Europe has more than 60 national company legal forms; the 28th regime offers a single set of corporate rules, applied identically everywhere, as a 28th choice.
The announced features go beyond fast formation: registration within 48 hours for a government fee under €100 with no minimum share capital, fully digital operations across the company's entire lifecycle, simplified liquidation so founders can wind down and restart quickly, digital procedures for financing and share transfers designed to make companies more investable, and free choice of member state of registration with full single-market access. National employment and social laws remain untouched — the safeguards of the country of registration apply in full.
The Commission has also called on member states to consider specialised judicial chambers for EU Inc. disputes, and is pushing Parliament and Council to reach agreement by the end of 2026.
Reserve your EU Inc. priority spot for $49 — fully refundable.
Fully refundable · Not a payment for services · Applied to your $499 formation fee