Abstract

Over the last decades, European company law experienced a continuous growth in significance. Along with the European company law directives, European legal forms constitute the two pillars of European company law. In the course last 35 years, three European legal forms – namely the European Economic Interest Grouping (EEIG), the Societas Europaea (SE) and the Societas Cooperativa Europaea (SCE) – were introduced. In contrast, the introduction of four other legal form projects on the European plane (inter alia the Societas Privata Europaea (SPE)) failed. This paper will attempt to identify whether there are underlying principles and systematics to the functioning of these established and envisaged European legal forms. This approach shall contribute to the development of an overall concept for European legal forms. In this regard, the article examines the historical development of European legal forms and their significance for the practice of European company law. On this account, also these legal forms’ functions – in particular their effect on the competition between EU and national level – will be discussed. To complement these considerations, the paper studies the regulatory technique and the associated multi-level problem.