

Ask HN: Which EU countries are least unfavorable for entrepreneurs? - xox

I would like to start a business somewhere in the EU (I'm an EU citizen) but I am concerned about potential legal restrictions.<p>Which countries would be most favorable or least unfavorable to starting a business?
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esjr
Byzantine red-tape, corruption, a legal framework that makes the Talmud look
like a minor collection of one-liners, add to that a somewhat xenophobic
business environment and an economy that's moribund and you've got the least
favorable place to start a business : Greece. (I speak from experience. I'm
sure Kafka was Greek.) The easiest, in my experience, is The Netherlands.

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Kliment
London appears to be a fairly popular place to start a startup. A limited
company can be started in the UK with 1 pound in capital, plus a few hundred
in various fees. Several countries offer more favorable tax climates and there
are also benefits for starting a business in specific (typically
underdeveloped) regions in a number of EU countries, so you might want to
check that, but it appears that the UK is the go-to jurisdiction for EU
startups. Note that you can run your company from any EU country and register
in any EU country (though some countries require more solid legal presence in
the country to be registered there).

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xox
Good info. Thanks. Didn't know you could register anywhere in the EU.

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billswift
You might try this <http://www.heritage.org/index/ranking.aspx> ; besides the
table, if you click on a country name you get (slightly) more detailed
information about the country. There are also other country rankings out
there, this is the only _recent_ one I have a link to.

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xox
Awesome link! Thanks!

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scottallison
Can you be more specific as to the types of legal restrictions you are
concerned about? Or is this just a general question on what countries are
more/less supportive of start-up businesses?

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xox
Yes, it's just a general question. I don't really know what issues I might
face although I have heard for example that the EU is more restrictive than
the US in general. But, again, I'm not even sure what that means in practical
terms.

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Yaa101
It means that there are more rules, but it also means that there is less
litigation.

