As in other countries across the globe, the interest in corporate governance in Continental
European countries has grown considerably in the last decade. Its importance for the
development of capital markets and investor confidence has been widely appreciated. The
realization that the barriers between different countries’ capital markets are declining with
the adoption of the euro, the internationalization of cross-border portfolios, and technological
advances means that corporate governance practices of individual countries increasingly
need to satisfy certain perceived core principles of accepted good practice.