Shortly after Obama’s announcement of a limitation on the maximum compensation provided to executives and other high-ranking employees at bailout-receiving corporations, the popular media began conversation about Europe’s similar movements.

While not, at this point, federally or transnationally mandated by the European Union, many European banks are following in the clearly diminishing market rate for executive compensation - risking angering shareholders if they choose to follow the former status quo.

The European Commission urged European governments to provide encouragement toward the financial establishment to limit or cancel executive bonuses and high salaries, regardless of whether the companies were recipients of political handouts.

“The commission very much welcomes this kind of limit placed on the pay and bonuses of executives,” said Commission spokesman, Jonathan Todd to Reuters, following billions of dollars of European Commission-approved state aid to European banks.

The Commission was careful to say that there were no plans to mandate limitation - such as that of President Obama at a cap of $500,000 compensation to any firm receiving bailout funds - leaving it up to the individual governments within the Union.

France (no bonuses for those receiving aid) and Germany (a 500,000 euro compensation limit) have already set country-level mandates on the issue, while numerous other banks have dropped bonuses and high compensations at least for the fiscal year in current.

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