18/11/2002 (Agence Europe) - Commissioner Frits Bolkestein presented during the last Competitiveness Council the recent report by the high level Winter Group on corporate law (see EUROPE of 4/5 November, p.9). After having taken this text on board, the Commission should present an action plan early 2003 for the modernisation of corporate law in Europe, he recalled. Pending a more indepth discussion during the Ecofin Council of 3 December, the Member States welcomed the report. France and Germany nonetheless found it too modest compared to what is being done in the United States. The United Kingdom urged for the legislative track to be pursued as a last recourse only.