Minister of Public Enterprises Petra De Sutter (Green) will not get her requested private observer at the listed public companies, but binding agreements will be made.
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Minister De Sutter had aimed high by asking that in the case of listed public companies, an observer would also be added to the government directors, who would attend the deliberations of the board of directors and of the management. That observer, a person who would report directly to De Sutter which decisions were on the table at Bpost and Proximus, will not be forthcoming. The liberals in particular feared that this would be a step back in time.
But De Sutter did receive the green light to introduce a ‘no surprise’ policy at both companies. “I’ve been insisting on that for a while. Due to the disappearance of the government commissioners since 2015, the obligation to provide information to the minister has disappeared. At the same time, it is the minister who is accountable to parliament for decisions taken by those public companies, such as the sale of newsagents to Golden Palace, a player in the gambling industry. To resolve this tension, the core cabinet has agreed to a no surprise policy in public companies’, says De Sutter in a press release.
‘Relationship agreement’
The board of directors and the deputy prime minister will develop a framework to implement that principle. In practice, this is a binding agreement between the minister and the companies involved. De Sutter speaks of a ‘relationship agreement’. According to those involved, Proximus had suggested speaking with an agreed framework instead of a ministerial observer.
Behind the scenes there was concern about how such an observer could be reconciled with the principles of corporate governance. Another unanswered question was what the minister intended to do with the information she would receive about the business plans. It was feared that a parallel decision-making circuit would take the place of the board of directors. The government has six directors on this board at Proximus and Bpost. Both companies are listed on the Brussels Stock Exchange.
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