Brussels, 27/02/2002 (Agence Europe) - Contacts between Internal Market Commissioner Frits Bolkestein and German Finance Minister Hans Heichel, this week in Berlin, regarding public procurement offers, were "disappointing", according to the Commissioner's spokesperson. Chancellor Schröder even took the defence, on Tuesday, of the "Golden Share" system, which allows the regional State of Lower Saxony to have a right of veto on the Volkswagen management board with only 19% of the share capital. "He who seeks to destroy this culture must reckon with the resistance of the German government", said Gerhard Schröder. The abolition of Golden Shares is part of the recommendations made by the High Level Group that had presented a report, on 10 January, on several controversial points of the takeover directive (see EUROPE of 11 January, p.6). The Commission had announced that it would take inspiration from these recommendations in order to elaborate a new draft takeover directive, after the rejection of the previous text by the plenary of the European Parliament, under pressure from German MEPs. The Commission is expected, in April or May, to present a new draft text, recalled Frits Bolkestein, during Tuesday's meeting in Brussels of the "financial services group" bringing together experts from Member States. "The Commission will do everything it can to facilitate an agreement between the Council and the Parliament on the revised proposal", it assures in a press release.