The table provides an overview of the more than 40-year-long history of the European Company. This delay was caused by a deadlock in the Council of Ministers where unanimity was required. Resistance arose also on the question of board-level representation of employees. Objections were raised by "both sides": While countries with strong systems of board-level representation (like Germany or Austria) feared a weakening of their national systems, countries with rather weak - or even non-existent - board-level representation (like the UK and Spain) were afraid of importing something that is unknown to their industrial relations systems.

Table: Countries' transposition of the European Company Statute