“Golden Shares” and Other Special State Rights: An Assessment Based on CJEU Decisions Within the Scope of EU Internal Market Law

Year 2023, Issue: 22, 167 - 195, 29.12.2023

Muhammedali Aktaş

https://doi.org/10.26650/ihid.22.007

Abstract

Liberalization started to take effect in Western countries from the beginning of the 1970s. It manifested itself, among other processes such as deregulation, with privatization movements intensively from the late 1980s. Against it, states established golden shares and special state rights to ensure public safety, continuation of SGI, protection of the rights of workers and minority shareholders, and sometimes to obtain economic interests. Thus, they aimed to maintain the influence of states on related enterprises. However, these reflexes resulted in legal discussions under EU Law, particularly regarding the freedom of capital and establishment. The compliance of the special state rights with the EU internal market had been handled several times by the CJEU through the assessment of infringement of fundamental freedoms, starting from the late 1990s until the mid-2010s. In the text below, the golden shares and other special state rights are assessed in terms of the free movement of capital and establishment by referencing the related CJEU decisions. This assessment will be structured substantially based on the assessment scheme for four freedoms. Although privatization is a tool that has been intensely used in a certain period, there is no guarantee that privatization will not come to the fore again. Furthermore, finding reasonable solutions to the legal problems stemming from the special state rights would be guiding in terms of ensuring the compliance of the new types of state interventions to the economy, as we witnessed during the COVID-19 pandemic, with the fundamental freedoms of the EU internal market.

Keywords

Golden Shares, Special State Rights, EU Internal Market Law, Privatization/Liberalization, Fundamental Freedoms

“Altın Hisseler” ve Diğer Özel Devlet Hakları: AB İç Pazar Hukuku Kapsamında ABAD Kararlarına Dayalı Bir Değerlendirme

Abstract

Serbestleşme/Liberalizasyon akımı 1970’li yılların başından itibaren etkisini Batı’da hissettirir. Deregülasyon gibi diğer süreçlerin yanı sıra, yoğun anlamda 1980’lerin sonundan başlayarak, kamu teşebbüslerinin özelleştirilmesi hareketleri ile kendisini gösterir. Bunun karşısında devletler kamu güvenliğinin tesisi, kamu hizmetlerinin devamlılığı, işçi ve azınlık hisse sahiplerinin haklarının korunması gibi temelde kamu yararı saikiyle ve kimi zaman ekonomik saiklerle ilgili şirket nezdinde kendi lehlerine altın hisse veya diğer özel haklar tesis etmek yoluna gitmişler, bu şekilde ilgili şirket üzerinde devletin etkisini devam ettirmeyi amaçlamışlardır. Ancak bu durum AB Hukuku kapsamında özellikle AB İç Pazarı bakımından temel özgürlüklerden olan sermayenin ve kuruluşların serbest dolaşımı hususlarında hukuki tartışmalara neden olmuştur. Özel devlet haklarının AB İç Pazarı ile uyumu, temel özgürlüklerin ihlali değerlendirmesi üzerinden, 1990’ların sonundan başlayarak 2010’lu yılların ortasına kadar Avrupa Birliği Adalet Divanı (ABAD) tarafından çok defa ele alınmıştır. Aşağıdaki metinde altın hisse ve diğer özel devlet hakları, ABAD kararlarına referanslarla, temel özgürlüklerden ikisi olan sermayenin ve kuruluşların serbest dolaşımı bakımından değerlendirilmektedir. Bu değerlendirmede kıta avrupasında kullanılan değerlendirme şeması takip edilmektedir. Belirtmek gerekir ki özelleştirme belli bir zamanda yoğun bir şekilde kullanılmış bir araç olsa da tekrar gündeme gelmeyeceğinin bir garantisi yoktur. Ayrıca özel devlet hakları üzerinden ortaya çıkan hukuki meselelere çözüm bulunması COVID-19 salgını sırasında da şahit olduğumuz devletin ekonomiye yeni müdahale biçimlerinin AB İç Pazarının temel özgürlüklerine uyumunun sağlanması bakımından yol gösterici olacaktır.

Keywords

Altın Hisseler, Özel Devlet Hakları, AB İç Pazar Hukuku, Özelleştirme/Serbestleştirme, (AB İç Pazarında) Temel Özgürlükler

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