Privatized Companies, Golden Shares and Property Ownership in the Euro Crisis Era: A Discussion after Commission v. Greece

19 Pages Posted: 27 Jul 2015

See all articles by Thomas Papadopoulos

Thomas Papadopoulos

Department of Law, University of Cyprus

Date Written: May 8, 2015

Abstract

In Commission v. Greece, the Court of Justice of the European Union examined Article 345 TFEU (ex Article 295 EC) on property ownership, in the context of golden shares of privatized companies. The neutrality of the EU towards privatizations is questioned. The scope and the outer limits of Article 345 TFEU are also scrutinized and a few distinctions are drawn. The decision whether to privatize and to introduce golden shares falls within the scope of Article 345 TFEU and outside the scope of fundamental freedoms, but the materialization of this decision and, as a matter of fact, the privatization process fall within the scope of fundamental freedoms. Recent developments on privatization prohibitions will also be discussed. This analysis will take place in the context of privatizations occurring in over-indebted Member States affected by the Eurozone crisis and having concluded bailout agreements. Emphasis will be placed on the Greek and Cyprus bailout agreements, where privatizations constitute an important part of the Economic Adjustment Programmes of these two Member States. Analysis of Article 345 TFEU will also cover corporatizations as an essential prerequisite for privatizations. The delineation of the boundaries between Article 345 TFEU and the fundamental freedoms constitutes a challenge for the bailout agreements and the privatization laws of over-indebted Member States.

Keywords: Privatizations, Privatized Companies, golden shares, Article 345 TFEU (ex Article 295 EC), property ownership, company law, internal market, bailout deals, over-indebted Member States, Eurozone crisis, Corporatizations, Greece, Cyprus

JEL Classification: K22, K11, K19, K29

Suggested Citation

Papadopoulos, Thomas, Privatized Companies, Golden Shares and Property Ownership in the Euro Crisis Era: A Discussion after Commission v. Greece (May 8, 2015). European Company and Financial Law Review (2015) Vol. 12, No. 1, p. 1-18, Research Paper Νο 17/2015, Crisis Obseratory, Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP), May 2015, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2635884 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2635884

Thomas Papadopoulos (Contact Author)

Department of Law, University of Cyprus ( email )

P.O. Box 20537
Nicosia, 1678
Cyprus

HOME PAGE: http://ucy.ac.cy/dir/en/component/comprofiler/userprofile/tpapad05

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