No C 94/2 Official Journal of the European Communities 10. 4. 79 
II 
(Preparatory Acts) 
ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE 
Opinion on the employee participation and company structure in the European Economic 
Community, prepared by the sub-committee on the Commission's green paper 
The text referred to the Committee has not yet been published in the Official Journal of 
the European Communities. 
A. LEGAL BASIS FOR THE OPINION 
On 21 November 1975 the Commission referred the abovementioned proposal to the 
Economic and Social Committee in accordance with Article 198 of the Treaty 
establishing the European Economic Community. 
B. OPINION OF THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE 
The Economic and Social Committee prepared its opinion on the above matter at its 
155th plenary session held in Brussels on 1 and 2 February 1978. 
The full text of the opinion is as follows: 
THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE, 
Having regard to the request made by the 
Commission of the European Communities on 21 
November 1975 under Article 198 of the Treaty 
establishing the European Economic Community, for 
its opinion on the green paper on employee parti­
cipation and company structure in the European 
Economic Community, 
Having regard to the decision taken at its 136th 
plenary session on 28 and 29 January 1976 on a 
proposal from its Bureau decided at its meeting held 
on 16 December 1975 to set up, in accordance with 
Article 17 of the Rules of Procedure, a sub-committee 
to submit to it a draft opinion and report on the 
matter, Having regard to the report submitted by the rapp­
orteur, Mr Carroll, and the co-rapporteur, Mr Savini, 
Having regard to the revised draft opinion prepared 
by the sub-committee on the green paper, 
Having regard to the discussion at its 155th plenary 
session held on 1 and 2 February 1978 (meeting of 2 
February 1978), 
HAS ADOPTED THE FOLLOWING OPINION 
unanimously with one abstention: 
1. The Committee is pleased that the Commission 
intends in its approach to company law harmo-
10.4.79 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 94/3 
nization to take more account of the existing law and 
current practices in the Member States, so that it can 
make the future Directive on the structure of 
companies in the European Economic Community 
more flexible. 
2. General agreement has been reached within the 
Committee that employee participation in the 
broadest sense of the term is a desirable development 
in a democratic society. 
3. Accordingly, the Committee would repeat the 
view expressed in its opinion of 25 October 1972 on 
the proposed European Company Statute and 
endorsed in its opinion of 29 May 1974, that: 
'Workers must be given a possibility of collective 
representation of their interests in the firm and must 
be afforded a say in certain of the firm's decisions but 
without detriment to the responsibility and 
effectiveness of the firm's management'. 
4. However, owing to different political, historical 
and ideological backgrounds, participation has not 
followed exactly the same pattern or reached the 
same stage of development in all Member States. 
5. Hence, although in all Member States there has 
been a general movement towards the development of 
participation, genuine differences of experience and 
opinion exist within the Committee. 
6. The Committee therefore considers that this is 
an issue, like many others, on which one must not 
seek instant uniformity. On the other hand, one must 
take care not to obstruct developments which tend 
Done at Brussels, 2 February 1978. towards harmonization. The priority in fact should be 
to remove obstacles to a harmonization between the 
systems and policies in the area. Above all, the issue 
of participation should be treated in a down-to-earth 
and practical fashion. 
7. Whatever Community rules are decided upon, 
they must safeguard the rights which employees have 
already acquired and must seek to remove any 
obstacles to employee participation. Furthermore, 
they must avoid rigidity, which would only hinder 
positive trends. 
8. In conclusion, the Committee would say that the 
only conceivable Community provisions on parti­
cipation are flexible ones. The Directive thus might 
make provision for two practical measures to sustain 
the movement towards convergence. The first would 
be the introduction of the two-tier board system as an 
option in Member States where it is not available at 
present. The second would be the setting up in large 
companies which do not have employee represen­
tation of the board of a special body on which the 
employees are represented and have minimum rights 
of information and consultation. The rights of 
employees ought to be more or less comparable under 
both systems. 
9. Besides the agreement on the above points, there 
remain also differences of opinion within the 
Committee about certain precise objectives and the 
means of achieving them. The Committee would, 
therefore, refer the reader to the report of its sub­
committee on the green paper, where both the areas 
of agreement and the differences of opinion are set 
out. 
The Chairman 
of the Economic and Social Committee 
Basil de FERRANTI