EU Inc (the 28th regime) · 2026/0074(COD)
Rejects the EU Inc. proposal because it undermines worker participation, enables regulatory arbitrage, and lacks adequate protections for labor and social standards.
Limit the EU Inc. to start-ups and scale-ups only, excluding large companies and those listed on regulated markets, to prevent regulatory arbitrage and protect labor standards.
Maintain robust preventive controls including mandatory notarial involvement and effective identity verification to prevent misuse such as shell companies and money laundering.
Introduce minimum capital requirements to ensure creditor protection and provide a minimal liability base for employees, preventing abuse and insolvency risks.
Include binding European-level protections for employee participation and co-determination rights, prevent circumvention via seat relocation, and ensure labor law protections are not undermined.
“Es fehlt ein wirksamer Schutz der Unternehmensmitbestimmung auf europäischer Ebene... Eine verbindliche Kopplung von Satzungs- und Verwaltungssitz zum Schutz der Unternehmensmitbestimmung ist erforderlich, um deren Umgehung zu vermeiden.”
SN_DGB_EU Inc_final_8.5.2026.pdf, page 1
Prevent the 28th regime from weakening or circumventing national co-determination laws and workers' rights.
“The new European legal framework would provide companies with additional tools to weaken co-determination structures and circumvent national labor law.”
Feedback, 2025-09-26
Preserve and strengthen co-determination as a key tool for employee participation in economic and social decisions.
“Co-determination is a key tool for democratizing the workplace, economy, and society. It allows employees, through elected representatives, to participate in economic and social decisions, balancing capital and labor interests.”
Feedback, 2025-09-26
Ensure the 28th regime does not undermine existing labor protections and social law standards.
“Another problem with the proposal for a 28th regime is that it would replace established labor law with a still-ambiguous European framework, creating a high risk of undermining existing labor protections.”
Feedback, 2025-09-26
Require a binding link between the registered seat and the actual administrative seat to prevent companies from relocating their legal seat to countries with weaker labor and participation rights.
“Eine verbindliche Kopplung von Satzungs- und Verwaltungssitz zum Schutz der Unternehmensmitbestimmung ist erforderlich, um deren Umgehung zu vermeiden.”
SN_DGB_EU Inc_final_8.5.2026.pdf, page 2
Use a more appropriate legal basis than Article 114 TFEU to ensure democratic legitimacy and proper consideration of labor and social law issues.
“Art. 114 AEUV stellt keine geeignete Rechtsgrundlage dar. Durch die Wahl von Art. 114 AEUV als Rechtsgrundlage für den Kommissionsentwurf werden Einstimmigkeitserfordernisse in Sozialfragen gezielt umgangen und damit demokratische Mitwirkungsrechte geschwächt.”
SN_DGB_EU Inc_final_8.5.2026.pdf, page 1
Avoid creating a separate 28th regime outside national legal frameworks that pressures domestic regulations and risks lowering labor and social standards.
“While the 28th regime is presented as merely an optional alternative to national legal forms, its very existence outside national legal frameworks puts pressure on domestic regulations and risks triggering a race to the bottom in employee participation, labor rights, and social standards.”
Feedback, 2025-09-26
Make preservation of jobs and company restructuring explicit primary goals of insolvency proceedings to protect employees.
“From a trade union perspective, for example, it is essential that the preservation of jobs and the restructuring of companies are explicitly stated as the primary goals of insolvency proceedings.”
Feedback, 2025-09-26
On the files they lobby on: “…n, Vertiefung des Binnenmarktes, Plattformökonomie, Lohntransparenzrichtlinie, Recht auf Nichterreichbarkeit, Arbeitslosenrückversicherung, Europäische Handelsabkommen, Öffentliche Auftragsvergabe, Quality Jobs Roadmap, EU Inc.…”
Open source underneath
WhoShapedIt is a thin layer on open-source packages. Star them, fork them, build your own micro.
Open-source context and state for AI: it keeps only what matters for the question.
In WhoShapedIt: Reads every lobby submission and position paper and each official text, cut into passages, and judges each passage against nine questions (who can use EU Inc, workers on the board, tax…), so every ask and every step is read on the passages that address it.
Open-source Svelte components for clean, accessible interfaces.
In WhoShapedIt: The status, the timeline, the theme picker, the camps of lobbies and the organisation pages.
Also built with SvelteKit · Vercel AI SDK · Zod