In three days, member states closed their texts on two of Brussels' flagship simplification files. The Council fixed its position on EU Inc on 23 October, two days after agreeing its mandate on the digital omnibus that rewrites parts of the GDPR, cookie rules, and incident reporting.
Both files now wait on the European Parliament, where neither has a position. Leaders want an EU Inc deal by the end of the year, and on that file Parliament is the slower side.
Policy & Regulation
The Council finishes EU Inc and the GDPR rewrite, and waits for Parliament
The EU Inc text keeps online registration in about two days for no more than EUR 100, and notary-free share transfers survive. The EU-wide stock option plan also stays, but only for companies with up to 750 employees and EUR 150 million in revenue, down from the 1,000-employee, EUR 450 million cap in the draft we reported last week.
Member states also gave themselves 21 months to implement instead of 12, and the right to refuse registration on money-laundering grounds. Germany's Startup Association welcomed the speed but called the stock option cap the main flaw, since scale-ups cross it just when they need it.
The digital omnibus mandate keeps the GDPR's definition of personal data and widens the cases where cookies need no consent, such as audience measurement. Member states rejected the Commission's single EU entry point for incident reports and kept one per country.
In Parliament, the Legal Affairs Committee has postponed its EU Inc vote twice over worker co-determination. Trending Topics counted 308 lobby meetings on the file, at least 79 with startups, 52 with unions, and 37 with notaries.
(Council of the EU; Trending Topics; Council of the EU)
Brussels opens a DSA case against Booking.com over scams
On 21 October the Commission opened formal proceedings to check whether Booking.com assessed and reduced the risks of fake listings and phishing. Scammers use reservation and guest data to target travellers.
A second count asks whether listings that paid for higher ranking are clearly labelled as ads. The day before, the Commission had published a DSA study on financial scams on online platforms.
Publishers ask Brussels to stop Meta's new terms before 30 October
The European Publishers Council and two German publisher associations asked the Commission on 22 October to suspend Meta's new business terms, which take effect on 30 October. The terms would let Meta index and commercially use content from publishers' websites and archives whenever a link is shared on its platforms.
Meta dropped the explicit mention of AI training after criticism, but publishers say search, recommendations, and ad targeting remain covered. They argue the terms breach the DMA's fair-access rule for gatekeepers, and Britain's competition authority also plans to call Meta in.
Capital & Investment
Brussels and Strasbourg agree to revive securitisation
The Council and Parliament reached a provisional deal on 21 October to rewrite the EU's securitisation rules, a core file of the savings and investments union. Banks will hold less capital against low-risk securitisations, and a new "resilient" category sits beside the existing STS label.
ESMA will supervise the firms that verify STS compliance, and insurers may now take part in synthetic deals. Cheaper securitisation frees bank balance sheets for new lending to firms that venture capital does not reach.
(Council of the EU; Regulation Tomorrow)
Seaya closes EUR 600 million for growth rounds, with the EIF as anchor
The Madrid firm closed EUR 600 million in six months for Seaya Nova, which will write EUR 20 to 50 million tickets in Series B to D rounds. The European Investment Fund backed it through the European Tech Champions Initiative.
Seaya names the growth-stage funding gap as its target, the stage where European scale-ups most often turn to US investors. Closing EUR 600 million in six months suggests LPs will back that bet when the EIF goes first.
(Tech.eu)
Beyond Vision raises EUR 28 million to build drones in Portugal
The Portuguese drone maker, a registered NATO supplier with about 150 staff, raised more than EUR 28 million in a round co-led by Índico Capital Partners and Lince Capital. The money goes into industrial production and new export markets in defence and infrastructure monitoring.
Lince Capital cited rising European defence spending as the reason to invest, a sign the new budgets are reaching suppliers far from the Franco-German core.
(Tech.eu)
Work & Society
Greece bans social media for under-15s, ahead of Brussels
The Greek Parliament passed a ban on social media for under-15s, which takes effect on 1 January 2027. Platforms must check ages, and families can use the state's Kids Wallet app, which confirms the age limit without handing platforms the child's personal data.
Digital Governance Minister Dimitris Papastergiou said waiting for a perfect European law would have been the easy option. France's Constitutional Council struck down a similar ban in August, so Athens will now test whether a national rule can hold until the EU Kids Act arrives.
Talent & Workforce
Britain's entrepreneurship adviser quits before the Budget
Alex Depledge, the Treasury's entrepreneurship adviser since June 2025, leaves on 29 October, the day after John Healey's first Budget. She said ministers treat scale-ups as "a bit of a sideshow" and that she had to "relitigate all the arguments I had already won" after the change of chancellor in July.
She helped expand the Enterprise Management Incentives scheme and pushed for pension funds to invest in British growth companies. A Helm survey of 400 scale-up founders found 73% were "not at all confident" the Budget would be good for business.
(City AM)
One to Watch
Poland's AI regulator can start fining on Wednesday
From 28 October, Poland's Commission for the Development and Security of Artificial Intelligence (KRiBSI) can inspect companies, run proceedings, and impose fines under the national AI Act law. Fines follow the EU ceilings, up to EUR 35 million or 7% of global turnover for banned practices.
Inspections need seven days' notice, and in an emergency the commission can order a system switched off at once. Watch its first cases under chair Pamela Krzypkowska, and whether a body with a spending cap of PLN 9.3 million this year can keep up.