One Size Fails All? EU Insolvency Law between Harmonisation and 28th Regime

The European Union’s efforts to harmonise national insolvency laws have long been seen as a key step towards the completion of the Internal Market and, in particular, its Capital Markets Union project. Yet despite years of legislative activity, meaningful convergence has remained elusive. This article argues that the obstacles to insolvency harmonisation are not merely technical but structural: insolvency law reflects deeply rooted national choices concerning creditor protection, corporate governance, and economic policy. As long as economic conditions, market structure and business realities remain diverse across the EU, harmonising insolvency standards risks producing superficial convergence at best and counterproductive rigidity at worst. 

Against this background, the article considers the idea of an optional ‘28th regime’ as a more flexible alternative. A supranational regime available for voluntary adoption could, in principle, combine legal certainty with respect for national diversity and allow for gradual learning through practice. Yet this approach, too, is plagued by design challenges and political constraints, and its success would depend heavily on its institutional detail. Rather than offering a simple solution, the 28th regime illustrates that EU insolvency integration requires experimentation, caution, and a recognition that one size cannot – and should not – fit all.