What on earth do Veolia directors – and the French state for that matter – think they are doing?

This week the board of the French environmental services group went public with its solution to replace its executive chairman Henri Proglio when he leaves at the end of next month to take the helm of EDF, the country’s state-controlled electricity behemoth. On a close reading of the proposed changes, if minority shareholders in both companies are not up in arms, they should be.