A waiting line of entrepreneurs in front of the German Bundestag? Sounds quite unusual?
🐍Yes, but indeed that’s what happened last week in Berlin – creating some memorable moments when even dinosaurs and unicorns were demonstrating and holding signs, while entrepreneurs were working from laptops, and MPs from all governing parties joined in. TV stations broadcasted the event live, generating significant momentum for #stewardownership!
⏳ Why all the fuzz? Germany, like most countries and regions in the world, still lacks a simple legal framework for steward-ownership. Three years ago, the new government coalition (#Ampel) announced a new legal form for “companies with bound assets”, but it hasn’t yet been implemented, and time is running out as elections are only a year away. So the initiative took to the streets to show politicians and the public: that we urgently need this legal form!
🇳🇱 Meanwhile, in the Netherlands, progress is swift – the Dutch parliament is already drafting a legal framework for steward-owned companies!
⚖️ … while the debate in Germany continues. After the demonstration, in a symposium at the Bundestag, politicians, legal experts, and entrepreneurs discussed the details relevant to the new legal form.
🥳 An absolute highlight: An independent group of legal experts, including Prof. Dr. Anne Sanders, M.Jur., Prof. Dr. Florian Möslein, Dr. Noah Neitzel, presented a draft law for a new independent legal form: a so-called “company with tied assets” (= “Gesellschaft mit gebundenem Vermögen” #GmgV). A milestone for the debate! Finally, the discussion has a concrete scientific proposal on how steward-ownership can be implemented through a separate legal form with all the important core elements (find the full draft available as open source linked in the comments).
❓ However, the Ministry of Justice is not planning a completely independent legal form, but a modification of the GmbH – the German version of the Limited Corporation. With the present entrepreneurs and legal experts sharing their criticism at the symposium, it is clear that key issues remain up for debate. Nevertheless, the process is already recognized as a prime example of democratic policy-making by all the relevant parties!
👉 For everyone interested in the full debate at the symposium, take a look at the uploaded livestream linked in the comments, where you also find more news coverage (all in German though) 💚