Brussels, 25/06/2002 (Agence Europe) - It is possible that the Commission will adopt its new proposal on company take-overs before the end of July, indicated Jonathan Todd, Spokesman for Commissioner Bolkestein, on Tuesday. He explained that the text didn't yet exist and refused to comment on the content of the proposal that would replace the directive rejected by the European Parliament a year ago (see EUROPE 5 July p 7). He described himself as being "very surprised" that a company's board of directors would no longer be able to take "poison pills"(with the approval of its shareholders) if it was the subject of a take-over, which is the case according to an article in the Financial Times. The new proposal is expected to take into account the opinion of the group of experts on company rights, presented last January (see Europe on 11 January p 6) and the decision of the Court of Justice on 4 June on "golden shares" that allow countries to maintain certain control over privatised companies. The directive is expected to be presented to the College of Commissioners next week but Mr Bolkestein's services appear to wish to continue discussions with the group of experts and Member States hostile to the first part of the text on take-overs: Germany (in order to keep the right of veto in the Volkswagen board of directors in Lower Saxony, Sweden (to keep the Wallenberg family's control in Ericsson and Electrolux