The debate did not take more than twenty-four hours before hitting the fan. According to his contract, the Franco-Belgian Bank Dexia’s CEO, Axel Miller, who resigned while the bank was being bailed out by French and Belgian’s government, is said to be leaving the company with a €3.7 million ($5.2 million) golden handshake.
It’s already creating quite a stir within the French government as Finance Secretary Christine Lagarde said “she shall be very careful on this matter,” to French newspaper Le Figaro. She added that she is “opposed to any golden parachute reward in a case of a company failure.” French government spokesperson, Luc Chatel, declared that he had asked the French Public and Investment Organization, a major Dexia shareholder, to veto both leaving CEOs’ compensations (Axel Miller and Pierre Richard). In addition, Luc Chatel added that the French Representatives House will vote “in the coming weeks,” an amendment preventing oversized golden parachutes.
Miller himself confirmed on Tuesday evening on FTBF, a Belgian national television, that he was against the idea of golden handshakes (parachutes) when they were unmerited. But in his case it was "different."
"As far as my situation is concerned the practice is not unmerited, as nobody has told me it's unmerited," he said.
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