Having recently been involved with a 90k VAT settlement with the German tax authorities due to contradictory interpretations of EU VAT obligations within the Union, I'm wondering what your expectations of operating like a "one big country" are.

Another personal example: how VAT is treated on EU grants is different in every nation, despite EC directives supposedly mandating consistency.

Oh and legal signatures are also different across the 27 states - eg Poland does not accept them in any form, but organisations representing the EC often require them.

EU Harmonisation for my startup feels mythical. Wish it weren't so.