This paper challenges the methodological adherence to institutional stability of the "Varieties of Capitalism" approach by showing that constant change pressure caused by 'negative EU integration' has, indeed, profoundly affected the German system of corporate control. Over the past years, European institutions have been striving to create a common market for corporate control in order to make the EU the world's most competitive economic area. Europe's push for liberalization, however, has not

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... nly affected the German system of corporate control itself, but also undermined patterns of the German financial system and system of industrial relations. Building on the assumption of institutional complementarities it is argued that if adjustment pressure is put on one element of a country's political economy, other parts will not remain unaffected. Will the German coordinated market economy converge towards a more liberal capitalist system?