European Accelerationism Open Letter - eu/acc

Dear European Leaders,

This letter is directed at all leaders across Europe, encompassing not only the European Union but all countries within the European continent. Our aim is to present a set of proposals, which we believe are both feasible and crucial for driving forward the collective potential of our nations. These suggestions are designed to be politically neutral, grounded in solid evidence, and intended to be readily implementable. Furthermore, each proposal is informed by successful European precedents, ensuring their relevance and feasibility within the continental context.

European Accelerationism: 5 Proposals for Accelerating European Progress

Corporate Tax Reform: Adoption of Cash Flow Tax Design

The empirical evidence in the economic literature suggests that corporate tax, as currently structured, is a suboptimal method of taxation due to its inefficiency and distortionary effects.¹ We propose shifting European corporate taxes to a cash-flow-based tax system where taxes are levied only when profits are distributed to shareholders. This change will encourage reinvestment of profits back into businesses, thereby fostering capital formation and economic growth. Estonia and Latvia offer leading examples of this approach, with the UK having also moved towards similar mechanisms.²³
Creation of Common Markets - Priority given to Defense Procurement, Capital, and Energy

a) Establishing a European Capital Markets Union is essential for strengthening Europe’s economic foundation, enhancing access to capital, and mitigating the risk of economic stagnation. There is widespread academic and institutional consensus in favour of this proposal,⁴⁵ and the EU has already laid the groundwork to bring this to fruition.

b) A common Defense Procurement Market is essential for strengthening the European defense-tech sector, a vital step if Europe is to assume a leadership role in safeguarding freedom and democracy amidst the rising global threats posed by authoritarian regimes.⁶

c) The development of a Common Energy Market, which integrates diverse energy sources across Europe, is critical not only for sustainability but also for strategic autonomy. The current geopolitical landscape has heightened the urgency for this initiative, catalysing political will to create a robust and independent energy framework.⁷
Standardisation and Digital Integration

a) We advocate for a vastly simplified incorporation process across Europe, making it digital, cost-effective, and universally compliant. Incorporating anywhere in Europe should be as easy and cheap as in the UK. In the EU, incorporation should be automatically compliant across the Union, by building on the Societas Europea (SE) framework⁸.

b) Introduce standardised convertible note investment instruments, modelled after the successful American SAFE note, to harmonise early-stage funding mechanisms across Europe. This approach would standardise and simplify investment processes, providing a clear and consistent framework for startups and investors throughout the continent.

c) Extend standardisation to public digital infrastructures such as health records, KYC, transport systems, payments, and e-signatures, which should be accessible via REST APIs to ensure interoperability and efficiency. The EU could expand on the digital single market and individual countries should look at existing precedents such as the X-Road initiative.

d) Adopt a uniform design system for all European government digital services, inspired by the UK’s gov.uk system, to reduce costs, enhance security, improve user experience, and ensure inclusion. This design approach should be open source and made accessible for other countries, to set a global standard.⁹
Innovation through Digital Sandboxes

Implement Digital Sandboxes across Europe to allow businesses to test and scale new ideas within a framework with lower regulatory burden. This approach, inspired by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority¹⁰, would reduce barriers to market participation for innovative businesses, particularly in sectors like healthcare and energy, enhancing Europe’s capacity to lead in technology and services in a more inclusive manner.
European Advanced Research Agency

Finally, we propose the establishment of a European Advanced Research Agency modelled after ARPA & ARC in the US and ARIA in the UK. This agency would focus on high-risk, high-reward research with the potential to yield long term transformative technological advances. One way to do this could be for the EU to revise the charter of existing agencies like the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT).

In conclusion, the above strategies are designed to harness Europe’s full potential through thoughtful economic and regulatory reform. Your engagement and support in implementing these proposals are crucial for a prosperous and resilient European future.

Yours sincerely,

Duarte Santiago Martins - BI Lead @ ebay* and Open Letter Author
João Pedro Cardoso, Senior Lead Engineer in Cloud\&IT Advisory, NTT DATA EUROPE & LATAM
Patrick Pijnappel, Co-Founder & Co-CTO @ Supermoon
Marie-France Mathes, Managing Director, Macon PE
Anthony Simon, Entrepreneur
Niels Andriesse, Co-Founder & CTO of Supermoon
Diogo Mendes, Entrepreneur and Business Consultant
Elston Baretto, CEO, Tiiny Labs Limited
Beatriz Becerra, Vice-chair and Co-founder of España Mejor
Loïc Macken, AI Consultant, PersonalAIze BV
Augustin Portier, Student, École Normale Supérieure
Manuel Tânger / CIO & Co-founder / Beta-i
Jorge Teixeira, Policy Advisor, Portuguese Parliament
Luis Pedro Mota, CTO @ CINCA, S.A.
Patrick Siegler-Lathrop, President, American Club of Lisbon
Taras Lanchev, Chief Engineer @ Erised Development
Frederich Novo Founder of one beta apps And Novo@amazon.com
Václav Košař, Machine Learning Engineer, VaclavKosar.com
Luis Cerqueira da Silva, Entity Governance Manager @Remote.com, former Notary Public
Diogo Mónica, Chairman @ Anchorage Digital & General Partner @ Haun Ventures
Xavier d’Arcy - European Central Bank
Julian Ehrenbrandtner

Addendum

The open letter above, addressed to European political leaders, builds upon an earlier article, “European Accelerationism”, which garnered positive feedback from both entrepreneurial and political stakeholders, and was notably mentioned in FT Alphaville and Marginal Revolution. Additionally, this petition aligns with the spirit of blog-driven policy making, which has seen recent successes, as detailed in an article from The Economist: How to Change the Policy of the British Government.

Given the recent European elections, these proposals are particularly pertinent as they offer a timely opportunity to shape policy agendas that can drive significant and meaningful progress across the continent. These proposals are selected based on their robust evidence base, their capacity to garner cross-ideological support, their foundation on successful precedents, and the existing political momentum behind them.

To add your name to the list of signatories please fill in this form.

* signing strictly in a personal capacity.

References