Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2012-03-28-Speech-3-264-000"
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"en.20120328.23.3-264-000"2
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"Mr President, honourable Members, I should first like to thank Mr Bodu, and the entire team who worked with him, for the work they put into preparing this resolution on a corporate governance framework for European companies. This is an important point for us and I see it, in a sense, as the first high point of a collective consultation process, Mr Bodu, to which we, on behalf of the Commission, tried to give significant impetus with the Green Paper in April.
With this in mind, six weeks ago we launched a consultation on the future of European company law. The results will be available very soon (late May/early June). This approach, along with our work on governance, that I have just mentioned, will enable us to prepare future initiatives in a more consistent and effective manner. However, I am able to tell you right now that in October 2012 I shall present a work programme in these two areas with a list of concrete initiatives supporting a major project: the long-term development of responsible companies.
This study and consultation process found an audience. It meets a genuine need. We have noted significant participation of all economic, social and scientific players from throughout Europe, with almost 400 responses, honourable Members, which is a very sizeable number. This participation is on a par with what is at stake: Europeans’ confidence in their companies.
It is my belief that when we speak of sustainable economic performance, and that is what our people expect, and employment and growth, there are a number of pre-conditions: the large single market – our shared collective area of economic and social life – innovation, investment, and we should not forget good governance and social cohesion in companies. Those are the essential prerequisites for sustainable economic performance.
In my view, it is not only in the financial sector that we have to restore people’s confidence. That is why, in my opinion, Mr Bodu, honourable Members, the European Parliament also has a central role to play here too from the point of view of good governance.
When we look at the results of this consultation process, there are naturally many points on which there is agreement, particularly on the need for a new European corporate governance framework. Yet, there is very clear support for European measures in particular areas: transparency in remuneration, identification of shareholders and monitoring of proxy advisers.
Your resolution, Mr Bodu, is a good reflection of this trend: precise, timely, effective action in a certain number of specific areas. However it is too early, as far as I am concerned, for me to comment on all the points that you raise. However, as is my custom, I shall pay a great deal of attention to what Parliament says, to what it will say through this resolution, and that will be extremely useful in giving direction to our future proposals.
I should just like to raise two points briefly. The first concerns diversity on management boards. I find that this is a very important point because I believe that this kind of diversity on management boards and on supervisory boards also provides more effective corporate governance. I am convinced that a governance framework must, if it is to be credible, include measures to enhance this diversity and I fully intend, honourable Members, to include this point in the initiatives that we are preparing. I believe, specifically, that decision-making bodies should be more open to women. My services are currently working on a measure to require greater transparency from companies as regards their diversity policy in management boards.
We have indeed already done so in certain texts which are under discussion: a text that President Karas knows well, the Capital Requirements Directives (CRD 4), of which he is rapporteur, and the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID), for diversity measures to promote women, particularly in the boards of management of financial institutions. We have also entered into discussions with Ms Reding on this point. She herself has undertaken a consultation process. We are working, as I said before, on a proposal to enhance corporate transparency, to increase diversity on boards and we are not averse to proposing quantitative measures (quotas or flexiquotas) to improve the balance of men and women particularly on the boards of listed companies. As far as I am concerned, I am personally in favour of such measures.
The second point relates to company law, Mr Bodu. Let us, as you suggest, take a broad view. We cannot separate corporate governance from company law. I think that they are both closely linked. That is why I wanted to have two broad themes, ‘corporate governance’ on the one hand, and ‘European company law’ on the other, to create a coherent common framework."@en1
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