In the REFIT-Communication (page 18), the European Commission includes its proposal on the statute of a European Private Company in the list of proposals it intends to withdraw. The Commission thereby draws the lessons from the several year long unsuccessful discussions between member states around this potential new European company form.

Certainly, two key reasons for its final failure were the lack of adequate provisions on employee participation and the unsolved question whether SPEs should be allowed to register in a different country than the country in which their head office is located. If this represents the ultimate „funeral“ of the SPE initiative remains to be seen: In a footnote the Commission announces that it is considering presenting a new proposal. The recent consultation on single member limited liability companies was designed in part to measure the political support for alternative measures for encouraging cross-border activity by this type of company. These measures could also have relevance for worker involvement.