December 2006

Eurosif co-organised “One Share – One Vote: a Means for Corporate Control?” in Brussels on December 7th, 2006.

Organised by the European Capital Markets Institute, in cooperation with the pension fund ABP and Eurosif, this seminar intended to revive the debate on whether more proportionality and thus shareholder democracy is necessary for companies listed in the EU, and to offer an analysis on the alternative policies to consider. More than 90 participants both from the market side and the regulatory side attended and passionately debated the issue.

Matt Christensen, Executive Director of Eurosif, did a presentation on Responsible Investment and Active Share Ownership. Philippe Pellé from the DG Internal Market & Services explained that the European Commission has no intention at the moment to mandate “One Share – One Vote” but is waiting for the results of a study contracted with Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) and the European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI) which is expected by May 2007.

http://www.eurocapitalmarkets.org/?q=node/266

Eurosif participated in a review meeting of the European Multi-stakeholder Forum on CSR organised by the European Commission on December 7th, 2006 at Brussels

Matt Christensen made a public request during the meeting that Investors be integrated into the ‘Coordinating Group’ for future EU MultiStakeholder Discussions, and it would appear that this request will be accepted. The meeting was in line with the Commission proposal, in its recent communication on CSR, to “re-convene meetings of the Multistakeholder Forum at regular intervals with a view to continually reviewing progress on CSR in the EU”. In the first session, working groups of multi-stakeholders analysed what has happened since the forum made its recommendations in 2004 and the lessons learned. In the second session, working groups explored how the potential of CSR can be better exploited to contribute to key policy objectives. One of Eurosif's key objectives is to raise the profile of SRI in the discussion so that the EC better understands the impact SRI makes on CSR.

For questions or comments, please contact Matt Christensen at mattc@eurosif.org

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