Strasbourg, 23/04/2004 (Agence Europe) - The European Parliament has insisted on the social liability of companies and on worker consultation, with the adoption on Wednesday of the report by Fiorella Ghilardotti (PES, Italy) on modernising corporate law. On the whole, MEPs support the proposals put forward by the European Commission in its action plan on corporate governance. After affairs such as the Parmalat affair, they note the need to take urgent action in the field of corporate law. With the adoption of around ten amendments proposed by the Socialist Group, MEPs nonetheless changed the political meaning of the text, insisting on the fact that corporate governance cannot be presented as a problem that is exclusively limited to shareholder/management relations, and that workers must play an essential role. Amendments therefore call for the rules on worker information and consultation to be included in all directives on corporate law, and for social and environmental information to be included alongside financial information obligations.
Furthermore, MEPs welcome the improved rules of transparency and the solutions recommended to facilitate shareholder votes (vote by proxy, crossborder voting rights, electronic voting). They also support strengthened controls and sanctions on audit companies and urge for auditors to be independent. The impact that the Parmalat affair had was that MEPs call upon the Commission to examine to what extent certain groups of companies, especially those lacking transparency, whose structure is essentially aimed at keeping control on the companies, may be excluded from stock exchange quotation. They also hope negotiations will be speeded up within the G8 and OECD, above all in relation to tax havens. The EP considers shareholders must be able to take part in the debate concerning remuneration of company directors and there must be great transparency at the level of remuneration not only as far as the fixed part is concerned but also concerning the variable part, as well as possible stock options.