The most amusing part of this new legislation is that executives in France and most of Europe receive much less than US executives. The UK finance sector can get high but otherwise, executives over this way are not close to being in the same league as their pampered counterparts in America.
France plans to introduce a law to limit executive bonuses in the form of stock options or shares as businesses are slow to accept a voluntary agreement, the spokesman for the ruling UMP party said on Monday.Chump change though the real chumps may be on another continent. Either that or the US Treasury.
Bosses at French bank Societe Generale have given up their stock options amid mounting social discontent over excessive rewards for executives in times of financial meltdown, but employers have resisted broader limitations.
The chairman of employer organization MEDEF said it was not in the group's power to force members into such an agreement.
But the government, faced with mass protests and strikes over its social and economic policies, is under pressure to act.
"MEDEF does not want to react ... since there is neither the desire nor the means, we will give them the means and we will draw up a law," Frederic Lefebvre, spokesman for the center-right UMP, told French television.
He said bosses should not be able to raise their bonuses unless those of the other employees were also increased. "I think we can define the main points very quickly," he said.
From Europe to the United States, executive bonuses at firms that were bailed out by taxpayers have become a lightning rod for anger over the economic crisis.
Last week, 3 million people took to the streets in France, demanding more help for struggling workers and asking the government to curb executive rewards.
SocGen's decision to award thousands of stock options to four top executives while receiving state aid has sparked particular outrage.
French banks received 10.5 billion euros in aid in 2008 to help survive the credit crunch, with SocGen taking 1.7 billion euros.
