Insolvency

BusinessEurope is supportive of the European Commission proposal on insolvency, restructuring and second chance. This initiative is crucial to invert a worrying trend in Europe that 50 per cent of new businesses do not survive their first five years. It is also a way to produce a change of mindset in the EU against the stigma of business failure.

Insolvency is a fact of life that many companies in Europe will be faced with.  Key facts on EU insolvencies show us that:

  • ¼ of insolvencies have a cross-border nature;
  • insolvencies cost 1.7 millions in job losses a year in the EU;
  • it can take an average of 6 months to 4 years to resolve an insolvency case in national courts in the EU;
  • recovery is higher in restructuring procedures (83% of claims) compared to liquidation procedures (57% of claims).

For the Commission proposal to have substantial impact the following elements should be secured:

  • the proposal should remain limited to pre-insolvency procedures;
  • an EU minimum standards approach is the best suited to insolvency law which is strongly intertwined with so many areas of national law;
  • a right balance needs to be achieved between the interests of debtors and of creditors.
Last updated: 7 September 2017