Europe: taking fright of the SPE?

An indication of the controversy surrounding the European Commission's proposals for the European Private Company (Societas Privata Europaea) was given by Internal Market Commissioner McCreevy in a speech delivered today in Paris. Mr McCreevy noted that negotiations on the SPE proposal were well underway in the European Council but he added:

I am not surprised to see that Member States are a little frightened by the SPE. It may well create competition to national company forms. But is that really a problem? It is simple; it is easy to set up; it is attractive to business ... Critics of the proposal say that we have left too much freedom to business; that this freedom will lead to mistakes, or worse still, abuse. I believe that not enough has been done to encourage entrepreneurs".