Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is an honour and a particular personal pleasure for me to welcome you to the renovated Berlaymont building, on the site of what used to be, a long time ago, a nunnery. But please don't think that this historic reference is an indication of my intention to lock you up in small window-less rooms with hard beds and a restricted diet until you have provided us with the magical recipe for what to do on corporate governance in the EU

I am particularly pleased that we have managed to gather as members of this Forum some of the most prominent European personalities in the field of corporate governance. Your experience and competence in this area are widely recognized at EU level and your very diverse backgrounds will provide different and I am sure fascinating perspectives. I should like to open proceedings by posing two questions which should provide a framework for your work.