Abstract This article emphasises the essentially political nature of corporate governance regulation and argues that the transformation of corporate governance regulation is part of a broader political project of economic restructuring and market-making in the EU. The first part of the analysis focuses on the transformation of company law and corporate governance in the last decade. Here, the article illustrates how company law has become increasingly focused on the rights of shareholders, while worker rights have been relegated to the area of social policies and labour law. The study also traces the shift from a legislative programme centred on company law harmonisation towards a regulatory approach based on minimum requirements and mutual recognition, increasingly geared at adjusting the governance of corporations to the demands of liberalised capital markets. The second section then reflects on the current developments in corporate governance regulation in the context of financial and economic crisis.