European leaders target CEO bonuses

Los Angeles Times

PARIS — French President Nicolas Sarkozy has declared war on corporate barons who fire thousands of employees, drive companies into the ground and walk away from the ruins with multimillion-dollar bonuses.

In response to the global economic crisis, Sarkozy has called Western European leaders together for a summit meeting here today aimed at overhauling the financial system. In France, a spokesman says legislation to ban “golden parachutes” will go to Parliament within weeks, fulfilling a campaign promise Sarkozy made in 2007.

Sarkozy has a reputation as atypically pro-American among the French because of his emphasis on free markets and hard work. But in recent years, he and fellow Europeans across the ideological spectrum have expressed hostility to the surging incomes of corporate bosses.