Shot in the arm for EU corporate governance

By Anna McLauchlin

THE European Commission is attempting to give a boost to corporate governance standards across the EU by creating a forum to discuss how best to converge national codes. The European Corporate Governance Forum comprises 15 members, who will hold their posts for three years, meet two or three times a year and deliver a yearly report to the Commission on their progress.

Big business is represented by Antonio Borges, the vice-chairman of Goldman Sachs International, Bertrand Collomb, chairman of the French cement manufacturer Lafarge, and Igor Adam Chalupec the chief executive of Polish energy company PKN Orien. Financial supervisors are represented by José Maria Garrido, the head of the legal service of Spain's securities and exchange commission (SEC), Andreas Trink, chairman of Estonia's Financial Supervision Authority, and Eddy Wymeersch, chairman of the Belgian SEC.

Representing the investor side are Colette Neuville, chief of the French minority shareholder association and Roland Oetker of the German Association of Private Investors.

Corporate governance commissions and professional associations are also represented, flanked by two academics.

Internal Market Commissioner Frits Bolkestein has insisted the work undertaken by the forum will not be a precursor for a corporate governance code, but a “drive to raise standards across the board”. The forum will try to build a consensus on the basis of which national corporate governance codes can be brought together.

Outgoing European Commissioner for the Internal Market, Frits Bolkestein, insisted that the work undertaken by the European Corporate Governance Forum would not be a precursor for a corporate governance code, but a 'drive to raise standards across the board'. The forum would try to build a consensus on the basis of which national corporate governance codes can be brought together.