Allard Knook at ECJ Blog has picked up on Advocate General Ruiz-Colomer’s opinion in the Commission v Germany case, C-112/05. No English language version of the opinion is available yet, but ECJ Blog provides a link to the original German and French versions. The ECJ’s press release is here.

The AG’s view is that the German law restricting the right of firms to hold stakes in Volkswagen, and exercise voting rights, is in breach of the EC Treaty rules on free movement of capital. The law prevents, for instance, anyone from having more than 20% voting rights, even if they own more shares.

I agree with him – this is a no-brainer because these rules clearly make it less attractive for a potential investor, say from the UK, to buy a stake in VW than in a domestic firm. That’s all you need for a restriction http://www.gooakley.com/ on free movement. Yes, the law could still be compatible with the internal market if there were a good public policy justification for it – but Germany couldn’t justify it, and I find it difficult to see how they ever could.

2017-03-18T04:14:18+00:00Tags: , |