By Leila Abboud
PARIS, May 29 (Reuters) - Shareholders of advertising agencyPublicis approved the pay packages of its chiefexecutive and chairman on Wednesday, the first example in Franceof the "say on pay" governance common in the U.S. and Britain.
At an annual meeting on Wednesday, 79 percent ofshareholders voted for CEO Maurice Levy's 2012 compensation of4.8 million euros, which was based only on performance without afixed salary.
In the United Kingdom, where pay packages are regularlyvoted on by shareholders but almost never rejected, that wouldrepresent an embarrassment for management.
In comparison, Chairwoman Elisabeth Badinter, who is thegroup's biggest shareholder with a 9.5 percent stake, saw herpackage backed by 99 percent of shareholders.
Levy's pay, which is among the highest of French bosses,became a flashpoint during the 2012 Presidential election inwhich eventual winner Francois Hollande slammed what he calledexcessive executive pay and called on the rich to pay more taxwhile the country was in economic crisis.
Levy earned 16 million euros in 2012 as part of a deferredperformance scheme in which he met the targets.
Since his election, President Hollande has made taxing therich part of his political programme, although hisadministration has run into problems on the specific measures todo so.
A first proposal for a 75 percent tax on salaries above onemillion was rejected by France's highest administrative court asunconstitutional and is in the process of being rewritten.
The French government also said last week that it wasdropping a plan to pass a law to impose a ceiling on executivepay and require "say on pay" votes in the private sector.
The country's business lobby, Afep-Medef is inching towardsencouraging more transparency on pay issues. Les Echos reportedon Monday it was working on new guidance to recommend wideradoption of "say for pay" measures.
At Publicis, shareholder advisory firm ISS remained criticalin its report that the votes on pay hadn't been applied to moreexecutives.
Shareholder votes on pay in Britain will only become bindinglater this year but a series of protest votes on the issue atmajor companies last year forced the resignation of at least onechief executive.
Publicis shares were down 2.4 percent to 56 euros per shareat 1152 GMT while the French blue-chip index was down1.4 percent.