Opening a company in Estonia is very cheap but in Spain the manager/CEO needs to be an "autónomo" (like a self-employed tax status). This costs thousands of Euros per year. Something like 2,400-30,000 Euros per year, every year, forever.
The global ground is even less common. In that sense it's ironic to talk about this as if it's an EU issue. Non-EU/US countries are all completely separate. The EU has much more common ground amongst each other than the other 170 or so countries that aren't EU/US; in that sense, it's an advantage for EU startups compared to startups from the other 170 countries that aren't the US. Yet it gets positioned as this unique EU disadvantage, as "the reason why EU startups are 'behind'".
In countries that have it. In Slovenia we have no such legal entity and so starting a business requires, at the very least, ~400€/month for a single proprietorship (unless you are already employed elsewhere already, then it's <100€) or even more for an LLC-type company (since it requires one fully employed person at a level above minimal wage).
I'm sure there's at least one US state where it's a pain to set up a company. So startup founders don't set up in that state but in Delaware, or recently maybe 1-2 ones. Germany is that state for the EU where it's a pain, so you set up your legal entity elsewhere.
You just need to pay 60€ or so for a business license and off you go. A GmbH (a corporate structure with limited liability, somewhere between an LLC and Corp) is not needed if you want to start a) now and b) for almost zero cost.
