France: executive pay

The Financial Times has reported, in an article titled "France eyes curbs on executive pay" (published online, 29 May):

The French government on Thursday threatened to take further action to curb pay for bosses of poorly performing companies, calling recent rises for some executives 'perfectly scandalous'.  Christine Lagarde, finance minister, called on employers to ensure that remuneration for their top managers reflected the company’s performance, suggesting further legislation if they failed to do so.  The French government intends to use its presidency of the European Union, which begins in July, to press for EU-wide rules governing executive pay, officials said, arguing that there was a head of steam building among finance ministers for a Europe-wide clampdown"

For information about the European Commission's past work on directors' remuneration, see here. Note also this earlier post.