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BERLIN (AP) — A top European Union official says he plans to propose that company shareholders across the continent be given the power to set managers' pay — an approach similar to an initiative recently approved by voters in non-EU Switzerland.

EU internal market commissioner Michel Barnier was quoted Sunday as telling Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung newspaper he plans to make his proposal by the end of this year. He says it would mean that at all publicly listed companies in the 27-nation EU shareholders would decide on the level of salaries and so-called "golden handshakes" granted to arriving or departing managers.

Barnier says he also will seek greater transparency on top salaries, perhaps by way of an annual report that would allow investors and the public to compare pay at different firms.