22/05/2003 (Agence Europe) - Klaus-Heiner Lehne (CDU), rapporteur from the European Parliament on take-overs declared that the Council of the EU had, "once again missed a great opportunity for getting European corporate law to advance". He also commented on the inability of the Council on Monday to extend the "take-over" directive (see EUROPE 20 may p 9 and 21 May p 9). Mr Lehne intends to take the initiative for finding a solution with the Council and the Commission. According to Lehne, the Portuguese proposal could constitute "a basis for discussion" (the compromise proposed by Portugal aims to give companies the choice of whether to apply the rules in Articles 9 and 11 on protection measures in cases of hostile take-overs).