How will employees at Allianz, the future European company (SE), be represented?

The advantage of the SE is that it offers European cross-border businesses a harmonised, simplified legal framework when operating in the Union. Thus it is no longer necessary to dissolve a company to move its head offices from one country to another. A simple amendment in the articles of association is all that is required. Likewise, the company is no longer obliged to maintain subsidiaries subject to national laws: it can simply manage its foreign operations in the form of branches. According to the employers’ federations, this is going to bring about substantial savings in terms of energy, time and money. Furthermore, the directive relating to SEs includes an important chapter on the representation of employees in the business. The directive actually requires negotiations to be held for six months between personnel representatives from the various subsidiaries and the company’s management. Once this period has elapsed, the negotiation period can be extended once.