Brussels, 04/03/2003 (Agence Europe) - Commissioner Fritz Bolkestein indicated that he would not oppose a compromise solution for solving the problem of "multiple voting rights" in the context of discussions at the Council and Parliament on the new draft proposal on take-overs. Following the Competitiveness Council, he declared that if a legal solution were found for neutralising multiple voting rights when shareholders had to vote on a change ins status of the company following a successful take-over, the Commission would not be opposed. On Tuesday during a conference organised by the Centre European Policy Studies, he indicated that the Commission would welcome a proposal that would rally the majority at the Council and was agreed to by Parliament: including multiple voting rights, "which would be going in the right direction".
During the Council, the Greek Presidency presented an update on the work achieved, which essentially focused on Articles 9 (making it compulsory for the management board of a company targeted by a takeover bid to have shareholder approval for taking defence measures) and Article 11 (specifying the rules that "neutralise" defence measures: see EUROPE of 28 February, p.11). Germany considers that, if it is necessary to prohibit managing boards from taking anti-takeover measures without shareholder endorsement, then it is also necessary to block multiple voting rights in the context of Article 11. Dutch and British will follow the same lines. Scandinavians are opposed, however, to the compromises sketched out by the Presidency to neutralise multiple voting rights when a general shareholders' assembly must take the decision to adopt defence measures.
The aim of the Presidency is to reach a political agreement in May and to settle the legislative procedure in a single reading, thanks to informal consultation with the European Parliament.