Corporate governance with co-determination — a key element of the European social model

The competitiveness of European companies should not be evaluated exclusively on the basis of the profit they make on the stock market for their shareholders. This, at least, is the traditional way of seeing things in Europe and has hitherto been reflected in the national company legislation of the majority of EU Member States. In the EU, workers in 18 Member States have the right to be represented at board level, and the legislation on the European Company (SE) provides for this right as a matter of course. Statutory worker participation is not just a facet of European social policy, it is part and parcel of good corporate governance and should not be viewed by managers as something that is unnecessary and disruptive. Nevertheless, in a world where international stock market financing of companies is on the rise, worker participation has a fight on its hands to secure its institutional future.