Schütze, Kim

This study provides information designed to encourage sectoral social dialogue in the shipbuilding sector. The aim of Eurofound’s series of representativeness studies is to identify the relevant national and supranational social partner o...

This study provides information designed to encourage sectoral social dialogue in the sugar manufacturing sector. The aim of Eurofound’s series of representativeness studies is to identify the relevant national and supranational social pa...

Fresenius was one of the first German companies with a two-tier corporate governance structure to become a European company in July 2007. The actors involved in the negotiation process worked under the impression to accomplish pioneer work. Both the management and the employee side representatives have assessed the Fresenius SE agreement as very positive and have personally earned positive feedback for the outcome. The example of Fresenius’ conversion into an SE shows a multilayer process of Europeanisation.

Headquartered in Utrecht/The Netherlands with subsidiaries in Germany, Italy and Finland, Equens is a full-service payment processing company offering services in payment and card processing and a European leader in this business segment. The transformation of Equens N.V. into an SE was concluded in July 2008 by a merger with the German subsidiary. This also reflects the strong European vision of the company. As a financial payment processor in an increasingly European market, the company follows its aims to become a truly European service provider. The case of Equens reflects the search of transnational operating companies for options to harmonise and simplify their governance structures including the practice of employee involvement and participation.

The European Company Statute (SE) is based on the Council Regulation on the Statute for a European Company (2157/2001/EC) and on the Directive supplementing the Statute for a European Company with regard to the involvement of employees (2001/86/EC). It is one of the most important pieces of company legislation published so far by the European Union. Adopted in 2001, it has since October 2004 made it possible for companies operating in more than one EU Member State to reorganise their cross-border business under a single European label. This enables them to work under the umbrella of a single legal framework, thereby reducing the internal costs of operating in several countries. Employee involvement, including participation rights at board level, is the focus of this research report.