Buhlmann's Corner

Question: What’s the difference between company shareholder meetings in Germany today, March 2014, and those of last year, 2013.

Answer: Nothing really. Everything is basically as it always was. The number of participants is comparable to 2012, and the meetings last just as long as they did in the good old days. The agendas with the questions on gender equality are nowhere to be seen.

When the two majority partners got together to form the Grand Coalition in the Autumn of 2013, one of the two sponsors of the issue got lost in the catacombs of the Ministry of Defence. The other Minister was no longer on the team.

In her opening speech on 29 January 2014 outlining the government programme the newly re-elected Chancellor Angela Merkel tackled the issue right after the request for minimum wages.

“A strong market social economy needs companies that are competitive at international level. We know from experience that this works particularly well when women and men have equal opportunities.

That why we are introducing a quota for women of not less than 30% in every supervisory board that are to be re-elected in 2016 of companies that are bound to full co-determination and are listed on the stock exchange, We have been urging this for years to no avail. Now, we must take this step.”

I’m not sure which urgings are being mentioned here; I was present at many shareholder’s company meetings. Indeed, after hearing the list of questions being recited for the tenth time, I was able to play prompt when the person reading them stumbled over her words.

The question I ask myself is, therefore, who is responsible for this public money spent in recent years? Because if urgings are reason enough for millions of Euros to change hands, I wouldn’t mind knowing where to find the pay-out window.

So, then, now that the first Dax and MDax shareholders meetings are behind us , it’s beginning to look as though the efforts of the reciting ladies were – dare we say – fuelled less by euphoria or righteous indignation for a just cause than instead for the never-ending tide of public money. At present I know of only one exception (in Berlin) to which I confirm my respect.