THE EUROPEAN COMPANY (SE)

On 6 October 2004 the Directive on the Statute for the European Company (Societas Europeae) came into force. Under this, Companies in the EU Member States as well as in Liechtenstein, Iceland and Norway are for the first time in a position to organise their companies throughout Europe on the basis of uniform European regulations. This new and original European form of company offers an opportunity not only to the Companies but also the workers of such an SE.
Under the management of a holding company, the subsidiaries of an Company can be set up and run under standards applicable Europe-wide. Mergers and acquisitions of further companies are made easier. Cross-border restructurings are made possible without the formalities associated with having several subsidiaries in individual countries. The headquarters of an SE must be in an EU country; a move within the EU is possible at any time without bureaucracy.
The European Limited Liability Company offers the opportunity to define worker-participation in a European context for respective SEs and to make these rights accessible to more workers than before. Under the SE Directive workers obtain admission to the highest European levels of an Company. They thus get access to information and have influence where the Company's strategic decisions are made or supervised. To represent workers' interests effectively and at the same time take on responsibility for the company overall is a challenge which has to be faced by workers' representatives in a supervisory or administrative body. Worker-participation in the founder companies can be maintained, changed or even done away with. Negotiation between workers' representatives and an company's management is in any case a prerequisite. If the management and workers' representatives cannot agree on a particular worker-participation model a minimum requirement of the EU Directive will apply. This minimum standard will correspond with the as yet most far-reaching degree of worker-participation in one of the companies from which the SE has emerged.