FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) - Shareholders have accompanied Lufthansa 's annual general meeting with clear criticism. Among other things, several shareholders complained that the meeting on Tuesday was once again held virtually on the Internet instead of in person and that this should also be possible in the coming years.

Previously, among others, the fund companies of the savings banks and cooperative banks had criticized the strategic course of the management around Carsten Spohr. Among other things, the CEO had promoted the planned acquisition of a stake in the Italian state-owned airline Ita.

Lufthansa resembles a "general store," said Ingo Speich of Deka. The Executive Board must be careful not to lose control, he added. Henrik Pontzen of Union Investment questioned the planned entry into Italian state airline Ita. He said, "We cannot imagine how an Ita or even another potential takeover candidate from Portugal can be successfully integrated. Let alone how synergy effects are to be achieved."

Arne Karstens of the Vereinigung Cockpit pilots' union announced that he would vote against the planned increase in executive board compensation, which clearly corresponds to Dax standards, even though Lufthansa is only listed in the mid-range Borsen segment, the MDax. At the same time, employees would have to cope with a loss of purchasing power. The trade unionist warned that with an erosion of the social partnership, the foundation of the services would also be endangered. Several speakers criticized the renewed audit mandate for the auditing company Ernst & Young, which has been accused of massive misconduct in the Wirecard scandal.

The new proposed remuneration system provides for a maximum salary of 11 million euros for the CEO in 2023 (2022: 9.5 million euros), while the new upper limit for senior board members is to be 6.5 million euros in the future (2022: 5 million euros). According to the annual report, Spohr received total target compensation of 4.9 million euros for 2022. For ordinary members of the Board of Management, 2.6 million euros was stated. Supervisory Board members are also to receive more money from the current year.

At the head of the Supervisory Board, the current Chairman Karl-Ludwig Kley is standing for re-election. In addition, manager Karl Gernandt, a confidant of the largest single shareholder Klaus-Michael Kühne, is to join the supervisory body. As in the three previous years, it was proposed to the shareholders that no dividend be paid for 2022./ceb/stw/DP/stw