> And again, the rates of German Ltds. have gone down massively with the creation of the UG, so clearly it's working and not seen as overly onerous.

My point is that UG create another layer instead of simplifying GmbH, which they refuse to do. From what you said UG still force you into GmbH: "25% of net income have to be added to the company investment, until the 25k€ threshold is reached". That's still quite onerous.

I think this is cultural. In the Anglo-sphere, the culture is much more one of laisser-faire. Other culture are much more fearful of any financial risk.

At the end of the day, though, on this I think the UK has it right: Make it as easy as possible for people to start a business. There is no downside.