Noëlle Lenoir appointed head of a mission on European com...

19 September 2006

Pascal Clément, Minister of Justice, has appointed Noëlle Lenoir, former French Minister of European Affairs, to head a mission to evaluate the status of European Company (Societas Europaea or SE).

The status of SE allows corporations with international activities to benefit from a unified legal structure in all European member countries. As the European company status is particularly innovative, the European Commission requested an evaluation of its application in each member state. Each state should also consider ways to improve it.

Noëlle Lenoir has been given the responsibility of carrying out this mission together with the Ministry of Economy and Finance. The report will include the following:

- an evaluation of the advantage of SE status in France as well as in the other European countries;
- with companies currently in the process of adopting the status, the analysis of the driving force behind the process, as well as difficulties encountered, specifically during merger and acquisition activities linked to adoption of the status;
- recommendations to alleviate these difficulties and in general to improve the SE status in alignment with concepts promoted by France in the domain.

Noëlle Lenoir, former member of the Constitutional Court, lawyer at the Paris Bar and President of the HEC Europe Institute, possesses all the qualities necessary to carry out this mission. Indeed, an established expertise of community law, a comparative approach of existing law in the various member states, as well as in-depth knowledge of community institutions' operating procedures - particularly as concerns the Commission and its services - are all required to produce a thorough analysis of the issues for this mission.

Madame Noëlle Lenoir will submit her report to Pascal Clément in early 2007.

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