Passive and Active Voting Rights in Electing Employee Representatives to the Supervisory Board of the Parent Company of the Concern: Commentary on the Judgement of the Court of Justice of the European Union (Grand Chamber) of 18 July 2017 in the Case of Konrad Erzberger v TUI AG (C-566/15)

Abstract

The commentary is partially critical. Mr Konrad Erzberger is a shareholder of the TUI concern, based in Germany, operating worldwide. Half of the TUI supervisory board is made up of shareholder representatives and half of the representatives appointed by the employees. In the judgement, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) answered the question, whether it was compliant with Articles 18 and 45 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) stating that a Member State should grant active and passive voting rights in the elections of employee representatives to the supervisory board of a company to those employees only who are employed at the company’s premises or in the group’s enterprises on the national territory. The analysis of the arguments presented by the CJEU conducted in the commentary, pointing to e.g. the lack of objective and clear criteria for restricting the freedoms of the European market, is partially critical. It has been postulated that employees employed in a group of companies should enjoy the same rights to participate in decision-making, regardless of where their workplace is located.