The cultural wars of the European company and of private international law models and the EU single market: are we about to converge into a harmonised regulatory model for the free movement of companies in the EU?

Marios Koutsias

Chapter 14 in Research Handbook on EU Private International Law, 2026, pp 296-316 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: The single market of the European Union consists of the free movement of goods, workers, capital and the freedom of establishment. Despite the lack of relevant debates in the public discourse, this chapter argues that the single market is not yet complete. A significant aspect of the freedom of establishment is left with an unexpected degree of uncertainty: the free movement of companies. This chapter explains the complex cultural reasons behind the failure in question and argues that we may be heading towards a single body of rules for corporate mobility. The latter may ironically be based on the English model of the personal law of companies, otherwise known as the private international rules applicable to companies; namely on the incorporation model championed in the UK. The chapter will argue that the latest case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) adheres to the British model of corporate mobility in its purest form.

Keywords: The EU Single Market; Freedom of Establishment; Free Movement of Companies in the EU; Private International Law of Companies; EU Law; EU Company Law; EU Corporate Governance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781035318681
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