One of the biggest reasons “the EU” can’t seem to home grow a tech industry is fragmentation - each member state has its own bizarre tax rules, and it’s extreme

One of the biggest reasons “the EU” can’t seem to home grow a tech industry is fragmentation - each member state has its own bizarre tax rules, and it’s extremely tedious/difficult, even today, to do cross border employment. A company based in Ireland for example, has a really hard time employing someone in Germany, without spinning up a “local branch” in Germany, and thus having to comply with German tax rules as well. Rules around contractors vary wildly and don’t simplify matters much. The “solution” is to accept the overheads of a company like Remote or similar who act as an employer of record, but that’s a bodge. No member state has any real incentive to simplify cross border employment/business rules, so it drags everyone down. It gets even worse for startups when rules around equity, etc, vary wildly country to country - some countries have extremely hostile tax rules around equity that may never be realized.