Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-11-14-Speech-3-334"
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"en.20011114.12.3-334"2
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"Mr President, I speak on behalf of Mrs Torres Marques, who for pressing reasons cannot be here, but I shall keep to her ideas and the meaning of her speech. The European Parliament and especially its Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs has for years been insisting on the need for banks to set up payment systems in the euro zone that would allow citizens to use the euro as if it were a national currency. Despite the existence of fixed exchange rates between the various currencies in the euro zone, cross-border payments are processed with the same charges as domestic payments. The citizens do not understand this: why are payments within the euro zone processed as if they were international payments? Is there or is there not a euro payment zone? The banks have perfected their credit and debit card and electronic purse payment systems at a national level, they have perfected their international operations, and they have forgotten about the euro area. Well, the euro zone is for us a region with a single currency which should have monetary rules in common that are easily understood by the citizens. It is just as well that when a recent Commission study revealed that, far from having fallen, transfer charges in the euro zone had remained high, it showed the need for the draft regulation that we are now examining. The regulation seeks, from January 2002, to equalise the charges for cross-border credit and debit card transfers that each bank performs in its own domestic market. The Commission proposes that the same should occur with bank transfers and cheques from January 2003 onwards.
The Party of European Socialists agrees with the rapporteur’s proposals, and therefore this draft regulation deserves our approval; we also hope that an agreement can be reached with the Council at first reading. Implementation of the regulation must not, in any event, cause domestic charges to rise. In fact, cross-border transfers only represent 1% of the total payments made by the banks, and they are electronic payments which entail an effective reduction in staff costs for the banking system.
Thus any use of this regulation to raise charges on domestic payments must be firmly rejected by the European institutions. The citizens have, in fact, already condemned and rejected it. Of the main amendments approved, we highlight the one concerning the penalties to be applied in the event of infringement of the regulation by any banking organisation, as well as an indication of the procedures to follow in other situations, so as to give some assurance to the citizens who use the euro.
I believe that, with the approval of this regulation, Parliament will be contributing to a smooth launch of the new currency for the citizens, giving the euro greater credibility and strength, and easing the indispensable cultural and economic transition. We hope that, after the decision of the Ghent European Council, this legislation will be approved as quickly as possible. This political decision will be good for the euro zone, but most of all it will be good for the European Union."@en1
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