“Corporate governance is high on the European political agenda.” So confirmed Frits Bolkestein, the European Commissioner in charge of the Internal Market at a European Corporate Governance Conference held on 18 October in The Hague. Bolkestein was giving an update on the European Commission’s (EC’s) Action Plan on Company Law and Corporate Governance, which had been adopted on 21 May, 2003.
At the time that the Action Plan was adopted, the stated objectives of the EC were to strengthen shareholders’ rights and protection for employees, creditors and other parties with whom companies deal, while adopting company and corporate governance rules appropriately for different categories of company. Additionally, it sought to foster efficiency and competitiveness of business with special attention to cross-border issues. The Action was necessitated by:
