Nearly 30 years after the single market’s formal completion, Europe still feels more like a patchwork of 27 business environments than one large integrated economy. Customs barriers are gone and the euro is well established, but companies trying to grow across borders – especially SMEs and scale-ups – now face deeper obstacles: company law, tax rules, insolvency frameworks, labour regulations and sometimes burdensome administrative practices.
The core message is simple: if the EU wants more cross-border firms, productive investment and high-quality jobs, it needs a radically simpler legal route for doing business across the Union – without forcing Member States to abandon their own systems. The 28th regime is that alternative.
