The Current Challenges for EU Company and Financial Law and Regulation

European company and financial law and regulation have been evolving over time along with business and financial practices. The received ‘social licence' established by company law and regulation aimed to balance the granted privileges of limited liability and share transferability with the corporate social contribution to economic development and employment. For financial law specifically, one issue is whether convergence in corporate governance models should be for publicly listed companies alone, or for private companies as well. Recent transformations driven by shareholder value and financialisation have been challenging this balance of interests between stakeholders (including creditors (and the State is one of them) employees and shareholders) and society. EU institutional framework may respond to these challenges by reaffirming the centrality of the enterprise as a going concern. On this basis, corporate accountability and responsibility may be enforced to make ongoing corporate affairs accountable and responsible for their contribution to economy and society. Ongoing corporate capacity to cope with social and environmental responsibilities may be assured along with the fair and sustainable remuneration of stakeholders, including shareholding investors. EU institutional design and policy mix may be organised to respond to this comprehensive set of corporate dimensions. The most relevant fields to be reconsidered include: enterprise groups and corporate social responsibility; financial reporting and transparency; financial investment and asset management; relevant tax aspects, notably of the aforementioned (as the State is one of the main creditors).