Democratic deficit

Arcelor’s planned merger with Russia’s Severstal is an affront to shareholder democracy. The Luxembourg steel group’s shareholders are being given only a bogus vote on whether this life-transforming deal should go ahead - and, in the process, Mittal Steel’s rival hostile bid for Arcelor should be scuppered. There is, though, a way in which the Arcelor shareholders can fight for their rights. They can call their own emergency meeting and insist on a proper vote. But it won’t be easy because time...