engleski

The Role of EU Company Law and Corporate Governance in the 21st Century: The Guardian of Fundamental Social Values of the European Union?

Analysis of recent developments and legislative initiatives in the area of EU Company Law shows that EU Company Law has become more than just a set of market-driven rules focusing on overcoming legal barriers in cross-border investment. Some new tendencies have emerged. Latest Commission’s work related to preparing non-binding guidelines on methodology for reporting non-financial information should stimulate large companies to disclose relevant and useful information on their policies, main risks and outcomes relating to environmental, social and employee matters, respect for human rights, anticorruption and bribery issues and diversity in their board of directors. Combating discrimination on the grounds of gender by implementing the principle of equal treatment of men and women in matters of employment as well as proposal for a new legislation aiming at attaining a 40% objective of the under-represented sex in non-executive board-member positions in publicly listed companies aim to accelerate progress towards a better gender balance on the boards of European companies. Several EU reports have stressed the positive impact of employee participation on the economic results of businesses and on the motivation and retention of employees. The paper seeks to explore should the EU implement its social policies through EU Company Law as primarily private law? If so, which areas of EU Company Law should be held responsible for preserving (and enhancing) social values of the EU? Which methods – hard law or soft law – should be implemented to attain social objectives? Should the CJEU be the one who will keep the balance between economic and social values? Could too much care for sustainability of social values eventually lead to non - sustainability of traditional company law?

EU company law, social values, sustainability

nije evidentirano