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Closely linked to the economic developments that followed after the Second World War, the emergence of golden shares was conceived as a way of preserving in favor of the public power the control over the companies initially owned by the state and subsequently privatized. They are shares that grant the state, as a shareholder, special prerogatives in companies that operate in strategic economic sectors (public security, defense, energy, telecommunications). Recognizing the state (minority in capital!) privileged fa...

The Treaty of Rome promoted a more cautious approach as concerns the free movement of capital in comparison with other fundamental economic freedoms. The recognized importance of the sovereign prerogatives of the states in the field of monetary policies explains why its original regulatory wording bears the signs of a reserved attitude and of an increased concern for the balance of powers distributed between the Commission, the Council and the Member States. The full liberalization of capital movements is the resu...