Brussels, 17/10/2008 (Agence Europe) - “I continue to believe that self-regulation has its benefits. It is flexible, and it allows companies to make their own choices,” said EU Internal Market Commissioner Charlie McCreevy in Paris on Thursday 16 October 2008 at the 7th European Law and Corporate Governance Conference. The European Commission's current work on pay packages would therefore seem to be moving in the direction of an updating of the special recommendation of 2004 (see EUROPE 8799). As far as the commissioner is concerned, “clearer guidance may be needed from policy makers. Only about a third of member states followed the Commission's 2004 recommendation that shareholders should be able to vote on the remuneration criteria applying to board members… Compensation incentives should not focus on short-term gains but overall shareholder interest and long-term, firm-wide, profitability.” (M.B./trans.fl)