Shareholders of Stellantis, the auto giant born from PSA’s merger with Fiat Chrysler, this Wednesday, at a public meeting, rejected a proposal to reward managers after it sparked controversy in France with a “too high” value. …to pay Carlos Tavares, the company’s CEO.

The proposal received 52.1% of the vote against it and 47.9% of the vote in favour, while Stellants indicated, in a statement, that “the company has taken into account reactions The result of the advisory vote on the Remuneration Report, in accordance with the Dutch Regulation on the AGAA, voted 47.9% to 52.1% and will show in the 2022 Remuneration Report how this vote was taken into account.”

Last year, the Portuguese manager received 19.2 million euros, according to the report and annual accounts, excluding long-term incentives.

In response to a question from a shareholder, management said the amount paid was “in line with the philosophy of rewarding performance and competing with competitors.”

The vote comes after investor Vitrust criticized the bonus, and French government spokesman Gabriel Attal classified it as “unnatural.”

Phitrust defended: “Is this very high wage socially justified when the group is likely to have to face deep restructuring, with job cuts, due to overcapacity and duplication after the merger?”

Shareholders approved a cash dividend of €1.04 per share. The distribution will take place on April 29th, with shares entering ex-dividend on April 19th.