In Portugal (for example) is is mandatory for an Lda (limited company) to have an employee, and they must be paid minimum monthly amount. In practice this means a few hundred euros a month go to the government in taxes. Then on top of that is another hundred or so in accountancy fees.

As someone who had a company in Portugal I do not understand what you meant about requiring an employee to have limited liability company. You may be referring to the need for one of the owners needing to pay social security but it only needs to do so if it does not pay in any other form. It hurts but it is not unreasonable and may provide unemployment benefits.

The accountant requirement I confirm, but also true in Poland for example.

The really big offense is that one must pay taxes for the next year based on the previous tax payments. They give a small grace period but then it’s on. It was supposed to be an emergency measure but of course it was never removed. It is a free loan to the state.

You can open a single person business though and skip the accountant.

Not quite true. In Finland YEL (yrittäjän eläkevakuutus, pension insurance for entrepreneurs) is required and it's based on estimated value of the entrepreneur's work input. Even if you pay yourself 0 euros your YEL income is likely higher. The models that insurance companies use take revenue in account.