It is an honour and a particular personal pleasure for me to deliver the opening speech at this conference organised by the Dutch Presidency. This is the first time that a Presidency of the European Union has organised such a high level gathering of distinguished experts in corporate governance to exchange views on how to promote sound corporate governance practices across the European Union. The Presidency, and in particular the Ministry of Finance, deserve our congratulations for their initiative. I hope it will not be the last such initiative.