Publications
& Policy

In this response, EU policymakers should use the forthcoming revision of the banking framework, as suggested by the European Council, to introduce targeted and proportionate changes to the credit risk treatment of diversified long-term equity exposures under Article 133 of the Capital Requirements Regulation.

Weak IPO markets, fragmented capital markets, regulatory complexity and limited institutional capital continue to constrain exits across the investment lifecycle. While a private intermittent trading platform could play a complementary role in selected cases, Invest Europe's response stresses that any such solution must remain proportionate, issuer‑controlled and market‑led - and must not undermine the fund‑based model that underpins private investment in Europe.

The GBER plays a central role in shaping how State aid mobilises private capital to support innovation, growth and competitiveness in Europe. While the Commission’s draft for the 2027-2034 period introduces welcome flexibility, Invest Europe’s position highlights remaining structural misalignments that risk excluding viable, PE/VC‑backed companies from support.

This paper sets out Invest Europe’s views on the European Commission’s Omnibus initiative to simplify EU direct taxation, highlighting the challenges posed by complexity, fragmentation, and inconsistent implementation across Member States. It provides targeted policy recommendations to streamline tax rules, reduce administrative burdens, and support efficient cross-border investment, competitiveness, and sustainable economic growth in Europe.

In the context of start-up and scale-up strategy, fragmented EU tax rules complicate equity-based compensation, limiting talent mobility and cross-border growth. This position paper outlines harmonised solutions, including deferred taxation, common equity instruments, and the 28th regime (“EU Inc”), to support scalable, pan-European growth and long-term value creation.

The letter calls on EU leaders to take bold EU actions to overcome the EU's competitiveness challenges, ahead of the 19-20 March EU Council. It has been by co-signed by more than 110 venture capital, private equity and infrastructure firms.  

In this response to a European Commission consultation, Invest Europe, alonsgide most national VC and PE associations, makes the case for a revised architecture of the AIFMD and EuVECA marketing and management passports, alleviating rules for long-term equity managers and making it easier for them to market and manage funds cross-border.

The leaked draft of the 28th regime (EU Inc.) reflects the right objective, but its current scope and ambition risk limiting its effectiveness. Narrow definitions of innovation and growth, rigid thresholds, and inconsistencies with EU frameworks could exclude many of the companies it is meant to support. Addressing these shortcomings will be essential to ensure the regime drives uptake, reduces fragmentation, and delivers meaningful benefits for companies and investors.

With the SME definition currently under revision, the EU has a key opportunity to address a framework that misclassifies PE- and VC-backed companies as part of larger corporate groups, stripping otherwise eligible firms of SME status - and related incentives - solely due to their ownership structure. Recognising the independence of private capital-backed companies would incentivise SMEs to access private capital while reinforcing a more attractive investment environment, ultimately strengthening Europe’s innovation capacity and addressing its scaleup gap.

The Digital Omnibus proposals on DORA, such as the single EU incident‑reporting entry point, are a positive and pragmatic step towards a more coherent, efficient and proportionate digital resilience framework in the EU.

However, broader adjustments are still needed to ensure that DORA is workable for private capital managers and does not undermine the EU’s ambition to boost private investment, innovation and growth. In particular, DORA must better recognise the specific characteristics of long‑term, closed‑ended equity funds and avoid imposing on them ICT regimes designed for very different business models.

In this paper, prepared in response to a European Commission public consultation, we set out our views on the new European Climate Resilience Framework.

Investors’ perspective on getting it right.

This paper sets out Invest Europe's overall assessment of the European Commission’s SFDR 2.0 proposal, highlighting both its key strengths and the remaining challenges, particularly from a PE/VC perspective. It also provides targeted recommendations aimed at addressing these concerns and enhancing the effectiveness of the revised framework, ensuring it remains proportionate and adaptable to the diversity of asset classes, business models, and investors within its scope.

The Institutions for Occupational Retirement Provision (IORP) Directive review offers an opportunity: decoupling the concept of prudence to investments in specific types of assets or sectors - notably listed or daily-traded instruments.

Prudence should be seen holistically. IORP – and the national legislation implementing it in practice - should designed to invite pension funds to construct well-diversified portfolios which meet their long-term liabilities, not portfolios that are mostly made up of low value, short-term assets.

Invest Europe welcomes the opportunity to contribute to the evaluation and recast of the DAC6 and the potential integration of the Unshell Directive (ATAD3) into a simplified framework. While recognising that DAC plays an important role in enhancing tax transparency and combating aggressive cross-border tax planning, Invest Europe highlights that the current application of DAC6 across Member States is fragmented and imposes disproportionate administrative burdens on intermediaries and investors.