Ethical shareholders urge the board of EADS to respect the rights of shareholders to ask question during the AGM
Amsterdam-Schiphol 6th May. Today at 11:00am, the annual general meeting of the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS) took place in Amsterdam-Schiphol. Ethical shareholders confronted the company again with the fundamental rights of shareholders to ask questions, and question the company’s choice to increase the military production with 60% from 2002 to 2005. Fundamental rights of shareholders Last year, at the AGM of EADS on May 17th 2002, tens of shareholders were not able to ask their questions, leading to a chaotic end of the meeting. Five of the shareholders considered taking EADS to court. However, after starting the procedure, EADS replied to their questions in December 2002. This does not change the fact that these questions should have been answered during the AGM of 2002. Breaking off all further questions is a serious and unacceptable infringement of the rights of shareholders as provided by Dutch law. This year however, the board answerred to almost all our questions, providing useful information to the strategic course our company is taking. Bribery in South Africa On 19th March 2003, ANC Chief Tony Yengeni was sentenced to 4 years in prison because of bribery in an arms deal with EADS local manager Michael Woerfel. We wanted to know from the EADS board why EADS provided discounted cars to a number of politicians and officials involved in South Africa's multi-billion-rand arms deal, but got no answer to this question. The board however did say that EADS "recently reinforced its internal rules, policies and procedures", to avoid such bribery in the future? EADS and nuclear missiles The French Ministry of Defence awarded in 2002 a contract to EADS Launch Vehicles for the next stage in developing France's new M51 nuclear missile. Nuclear weapons are the most destructive weapons ever created. The International Court of Justice has given an advisory opinion on the legal status of nuclear weapons. It stated that: 'The threat or use of nuclear weapons would generally be contrary to international law.' The use of these nuclear weapons could never be lawful, and the company may be complicit in a serious breach of international law. The ethical shareholders asked EADS and its subsidiaries to halt their involvement in the manufacture of nuclear missiles, and technology that is related directly to the support of nuclear weapons. "The customers of EADS are an alliance for Peace in Liberty" According to EADS advertisements, their customers are an alliance for Peace in Liberty. This violates the truth. Two examples confirmed at the General Meeting:
Amsterdam-Schiphol 6th May. Today at 11:00am, the annual general meeting of the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS) took place in Amsterdam-Schiphol. Ethical shareholders confronted the company again with the fundamental rights of shareholders to ask questions, and question the company’s choice to increase the military production with 60% from 2002 to 2005. Fundamental rights of shareholders Last year, at the AGM of EADS on May 17th 2002, tens of shareholders were not able to ask their questions, leading to a chaotic end of the meeting. Five of the shareholders considered taking EADS to court. However, after starting the procedure, EADS replied to their questions in December 2002. This does not change the fact that these questions should have been answered during the AGM of 2002. Breaking off all further questions is a serious and unacceptable infringement of the rights of shareholders as provided by Dutch law. This year however, the board answerred to almost all our questions, providing useful information to the strategic course our company is taking. Bribery in South Africa On 19th March 2003, ANC Chief Tony Yengeni was sentenced to 4 years in prison because of bribery in an arms deal with EADS local manager Michael Woerfel. We wanted to know from the EADS board why EADS provided discounted cars to a number of politicians and officials involved in South Africa's multi-billion-rand arms deal, but got no answer to this question. The board however did say that EADS "recently reinforced its internal rules, policies and procedures", to avoid such bribery in the future? EADS and nuclear missiles The French Ministry of Defence awarded in 2002 a contract to EADS Launch Vehicles for the next stage in developing France's new M51 nuclear missile. Nuclear weapons are the most destructive weapons ever created. The International Court of Justice has given an advisory opinion on the legal status of nuclear weapons. It stated that: 'The threat or use of nuclear weapons would generally be contrary to international law.' The use of these nuclear weapons could never be lawful, and the company may be complicit in a serious breach of international law. The ethical shareholders asked EADS and its subsidiaries to halt their involvement in the manufacture of nuclear missiles, and technology that is related directly to the support of nuclear weapons. "The customers of EADS are an alliance for Peace in Liberty" According to EADS advertisements, their customers are an alliance for Peace in Liberty. This violates the truth. Two examples confirmed at the General Meeting:
- In 2002, EADS Military Aircraft and the United Arabic Emirates Air Force and Air Defence continued to jointly develop the MAKO program. EADS has twelve individual MoUs with the UAE Air Force. According to human rights organisations, this country has almost no press freedom and a complete lack of democratic institutions. Both Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have reported serious human rights violations. But EADS still proclaims that its customers are "an alliance of Peace in Liberty".
- EADS won a contract in 2002 for the delivery of advanced defence electronics to the US Armed Forces worth $13 m. EADS declared "Further Success in the US Market". Both France and Germany have condemned the illegal US led attack on Iraq as an aggressive attack not only on Iraq, but also against the international community and the United Nations. The European Code of Conduct strictly forbids the export of arms to countries if there is a clear risk that the intended recipient would use the proposed export aggressively against another country. It was confirmed that EADS is still exporting to the US.