Commission welcomes agreement on rules improving corporate governance in EU companies

After a year of negotiations, there is finally agreement on the proposal revision of the rights and duties of shareholders. The end of the trilogue negotiations marks the beginning of a new  set of rules to encourage long-term engagement of shareholders and improve the corporate governance of stock listed EU companies. Further transparency for institutional investors and asset managers in their investment policies will contribute to rendering this directive very strategic in advancing sustainable and responsible investment practices. This directive has been an important area of focus for Eurosif and we have been working with a plethora of European partners to ensure a meaningful result. Ensuring that institutional investors and asset managers develop detailed and long-term oriented engagement and voting policies has been recognised as core issues by our organisation, which joined forces with the likes of Eumedion in 2015, to reach out to policy makers and raise awareness of the strong implications of governance issues for responsible governance and finance.
The success of this legislative proposal - in the context of reinforcing long-term oriented investment and corporate practices, aligned with sustainable growth objectives and the European economic growth agenda - represents another crucial step towards a sustainable Capital Markets Union.