The EU Court in Luxembourg has deemed Portugal’s golden shares unlawful. These prevent others buying shares in PT-owned Vivo. The Court, which hears appeals to the EU commission, ruled that the Portuguese veto on a bid from Spanish Telefonica was “an unjustified restriction on the free circulation of capital”. The Court sentence says that Portugal’s exercise of special rights to PT through its golden shares constitutes a curb on the movement of capital. It goes on to say that golden shares enable the government to influence the management of PT in a way that is unjustified by the extent of its holdings.