As a European Commission proposal, the European Foundation Statute was a legal framework for non-profit foundations, which would have been additional and complementary to existing national legislations in constituent States.
The statute was proposed to offer an appropriate legal tool to perform and increase foundations work and operations across Europe, while reducing costly administrative burden.
[1] This proposal has been shared with the Council of Ministers, representing the governments of the 27 member states for review and approval, as well as to the European Parliament for its consent.
The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), the EU's official advisory body on social and economic matters, passed an opinion backing the statute, drafted by Mall Hellam, by a large majority on 28 April 2010.
In January 2015, the Commission confirmed its withdrawal of the legislative proposal for the European Foundation Statute in its 2015 work programme[2] following its failure to pass through COREPER 1.