The Regulation of Executive Pay across the European Union

EIPA

Since the financial crisis in 2008 and the implementation of austerity measures, rewards for high public officials have once again come under intense scrutiny in various European countries, both in political arenas and public opinion. In the Netherlands, this resulted in the adoption of the Standards for Remuneration Act (in Dutch: Wet Normering Topinkomens), which entered into force on 1 January 2013. The European Institute of Public Administration (EIPA) conducted a comparative study on the topic of the regulation of executive pay. The study focused on similarities and differences across countries regarding the political and societal debate on the issue of regulation of executive pay, policies and methods countries have implemented, remuneration standards and caps. The study was conducted in three phases between May 2014 and the end of 2016. After a preparatory research (phase 1) a comparative inventory of the policies in the 28 EU member states and an in depth analysis of policies, methods, standards and the practice of regulation in eight member states was conducted (phase 2). Finally, two case studies on executive pay regulation in Italy and Poland were conducted (phase 3).