Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-11-16-Speech-4-212"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20001116.12.4-212"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, it is difficult to argue with the general substance of Mrs Villiers’ report. But what we could find surprising is its very existence, and the existence of the Commission’s new initiative here.
What are we talking about? The issue is to do with updating the European rules on banks’ own funds, funds that are supposed to be proportionate to the nature and scale of the risks incurred by these establishments. The report refers to a growing consensus that the present framework fails adequately to capture the changes in the financial sector over the past ten years.
Given that the phrase “growing consensus” – I am quoting from the report – in fact implies that there is no consensus on the subject as yet, we are justified in asking whether the institution promoting this reform, the chosen instrument and the chosen time are really appropriate. One cannot help feeling that Parliament, following the Commission, feels obliged to align its activities with those of the Basel committee, which, let me remind you, has no legitimate right to impose its views on the Member States. Let me also remind you that only eight Member States are represented on that committee, which on the other hand includes representatives of countries that are the main competitors of European countries.
But let us, after all, assume that the referee has not sold out to the other side and let us accept the idea that the texts by the Commission and the rapporteur respond to a real and growing problem, as the report has it, and that the fact that these matters are being considered here at the same time the Basel committee is considering them is a chance to settle them finally. Do you not think it is paradoxical to try to catch up on free America by imposing a further constraint on the European banks? Does it not seem paradoxical to translate what is no more than a recommendation to the large banks into binding provisions for EU credit institutions?
The rapporteur is probably aware how grotesque it is to call for simple rules to reflect a situation that is complex and has become more complex. As for the sense of urgency that Mrs Villiers has added to the Commission’s sense of the need for these measures by calling for a fast-track procedure for adopting them, we have to say that the rapporteur herself acknowledges that these new rules will have no effect on the anti-competition practices that are, alas, so widespread in the United States.
Under these circumstances, this kind of initiative is more likely to have an effect opposite to that anticipated and to impose additional constraints on our banking sectors, without any guarantees of compensation. Despite the exhortations of Parliament, the Commission has absolutely no means of guaranteeing that the American authorities will stop discriminating against EU banks.
Yet this report does have some merits, ladies and gentlemen, including the fact that it represents real progress in relation both to the first Basel text and to the Commission text. Mrs Villiers is aware of the concerns of the small and medium-sized businesses, which to a large extent depend on bank financing, and she has sensibly asked the Commission to carry out an internal assessment of the central component of its new rules, so as not to raise the cost of loan finance granted to these enterprises.
If, in its wisdom, Parliament decides by a majority to confirm a principle to which we should not like to see any exceptions, the Union for the Europe of Nations Group will be happy to vote for the report. If not, we will show that we are sceptical not about your work but about a procedure that we regard as a new stage in a process...
(
)"@en1
|
| lpv:unclassifiedMetadata |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples