We support drawing up clear rules governing the responsibilities of the executive board and the supervisory board. The number of people on the executive board and the supervisory board should be appropriate to the scope of activities involved and of the undertaking. We therefore do not abide by recommendations on the number of members of these bodies. However, we always support lean board structures and therefore decide on a case-by-case basis.

As a matter of principle, we approve of CEOs or members of the executive board being appointed to the supervisory board once they have left the executive board, since we believe that the experience gained on the executive board is valuable for work on the supervisory board. However, we reject any automatic process by which the CEO becomes the chair of the supervisory board. As a matter of principle, no more than two former members of the executive board should be members of the supervisory board.