Alma Zadi, Minister of Justice: “The rule of law…

I recently introduced the Flexible Company project. This would make it easier for startups in particular to set up their own businesses. There was praise for this, but also criticism. For example, that a notarial deed is still required when incorporating a corporation. Is it not possible without bureaucracy?

Alma Zadish: The important thing here is to strike a good balance between legal certainty and flexibility. Changes to corporate law in particular must be balanced. Because desires, of course, come from all sides. And the question of the golden mean is not always easy to answer. But I would not describe the project of our flexible company as bureaucratic. On the contrary, for the first time in decades, we have made a change towards more flexibility.

Internationally, however, Austria is definitely seen as bureaucratic. In Swiss IMD’s ranking of sites, we are in 52nd place out of 63 countries when it comes to setting up a company. Incorporation is very expensive and time consuming, according to the critics.

Yes, it should be faster and easier. And for this it was necessary to take such a brave step. What specifically have we improved? We’ve reduced the company’s capital — not just for the flexible company, but for the LLC in general. This makes incorporation much cheaper. Secondly, we have also made it possible to transfer shares in a streamlined way. In the future, the lawyer can also generate the certificate here.

It is surprising that a FlexCo can create a supervisory board of 50 or more employees, while an LLC only needs one for every 300 or more employees. Doesn’t that conflict with the idea of ​​starting?