The European Private Company

1 The European Private Company Dissertation thesis Mgr. et Mgr. Igor Augustinič Abstract Supranational corporate forms as a means for supporting cross-border entrepreneurial activities on the internal market of the European Union are in the centre of interest of legislation and legal doctrine almost from the beginning of the European integration. However, a full-function corporate form oriented above all to small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) cannot be found among the existing European corporate forms. It was this primary target group, the overwhelming majority of enterprises in Europe belongs to, and the project of the European private company - societas privata europaea - should be aimed at. The origins of the SPE project can be seen in academic debates on which supranational corporate form would be the most suitable for SMEs going back to the seventies of the twentieth century. Under the auspices of CREDA, Centre for Research of Commercial Law by the Paris Chamber of Commerce, the discussions were taken up again in the nineties of the twentieth century and led to the first Draft SPE Regulation being prepared by CREDA in 1997. It was a private draft that has served as a basis for further discussions on the SPE project. Since 2001, the initiative regarding the project has been taken over by the..