Brussels, 28/06/2001 (Agence Europe) - The European Parliament rapporteur on the draft Directive concerning takeovers, Klaus-Heiner Lhne (Christian Democrat, German), recommends for the EP plenary to reject, during its session next week in Strasbourg, the joint draft Directive stemming from the conciliation with the Council and approved with a small majority by the competent parliamentary committee. If the plenary were to follow its rapporteur, it would be the second time that the Parliament rejects a text from conciliation. The only precedent concerned the first proposed Directive on the legal protection of biotechnological inventions, but at the time the rapporteur, Willi Rothley (Social Democrat, German), had not called upon the plenary to vote against the text.
In a Communiqué, Mr Lehne explains his decision feeling that this draft does not offer a sufficient margin for manoeuvre to enterprises to defend themselves against hostile takeovers. He also felt that Article 9, which limit the intervention ability of the board of the company that is the target of a takeover, creates discrimination between the different types of companies in relation to the types of stake. Mr Lehne adds that the undertaking made by the Commission to examine the problems linked to the margin for manoeuvre is insufficiently binding and that Mr Bolkestein does not seem convinced of this problem's existence. Let us recall that following the conciliation procedure, the agreement given by the Parliament's delegation was the object of a problem due to the significant presence of British members (5 out of 14), who all voted in favour of this text. Concerning the joint draft, see EUROPE of 7 June, p.6.