Influential EU corporate governance advisory forum disbanded ahead of Green Paper evaluation

An influential EU corporate governance advisory group, which included well-known industry figures such as Peter Montagnon, Head of Investment Affairs, at the Association of British Insurers, and Klaus-Peter Müller, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Commerzbank and President of the German Corporate Governance Code Commission, has been disbanded after changes to EU guidelines on the role of so-called ‘expert groups’. A spokesperson for the European Commission said the mandate of the European Corporate Governance Forum, a think-tank for EU policy, had expired in July and that revised European Commission guidelines for the nominations to expert groups did not allow it to maintain the forum in its current form. The forum was set up in 2004 to identify and promote exchange of best practices in corporate governance and to provide high-level policy advice to the European Commission.Link to forum
The commission used the advisory group to brainstorm proposals for its Corporate Governance Green Paper, which was issued in April in response to the global financial crisis.The major themes of the Green Paper included shareholder responsibility, asset owner/manager relationships, investor cooperation on engagement, a focus on proxy voting advisors, scrutiny of ‘comply or explain’ rules on corporate practices, shareholder voting on pay, and gender diversity. Link
The Green Paper consultation ran until July 22 and a feedback statement summarising responses is due in the autumn, followed by a decision on legislation. The Commission said it would at this time consider what kind of future expert involvement is needed for policy making on corporate governance, although it noted that members of the current forum were likely to continue to be consulted because of their expertise. During August, the European Commission published the minutes of the European Corporate Governance Forum’s last meeting in June this year, which include members’ commentaries on the Green Paper.
Link to minutes