Whats the biggest impediment, in general, to creating a more entrepreneurial environment in Europe?
The European Private Equity & Venture Capital Assn. (EVCA) just did a benchmarking study comparing different European countries according to their tax and legal environments. Britain comes out first. France is somewhere in the middle, and Denmark and Austria are at the bottom. There are initiatives under way that could improve things a lot. One I should mention here in France is the new Young Innovative Companies law, which has been announced by the Research & Development Minister and Industry Minister. [The proposed law would exempt companies younger than 12 years old that spend 25% or more of their budgets on R&D from France’s steep “social charges,” or taxes to pay for government social programs. It would also eliminate some wealth taxes, make granting stock options easier, and exempt qualifying companies from all taxes on profits for three years.] I expect it will pass into law in June. And it’s a model we will try to promote throughout Europe, to make the EU the best environment f
