The European Company Law Action Plan Revisited: An Introduction

The European Company Law Action Plan of 2003 has been in the center of corporate law discussions in Europe for almost a decade. This introduction re-visits five of the main reform problems and outlines reform perspectives beyond the financial markets crisis. The five areas that the introduction re-examines are legal capital, corporate governance, one share/one vote, financial reporting, and corporate mobility. For the future, the introduction identifies as critical a mixed system of regulatory approaches, i.e. between market and regulation as well as between national regulation and European rules, a focus on adequate enforcement, and prudence in the aftermath of the financial crisis.