Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-03-12-Speech-1-165"
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"en.20070312.21.1-165"2
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".
Mr President, honourable Members, I should like to thank the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs and in particular Mr Klinz for his excellent report on prudential assessments in the financial sector and for the amount of effort that has gone into achieving a common position between the three institutions.
We share Mr Klinz’s view that this proposed directive will make the whole approach to acquisitions in the financial sector more effective. We must clearly ensure that commercial decisions on acquisitions in the financial sector are clearly and transparently vetted by the relevant body. Legitimate commercial decision-making must not be frustrated by overzealous bodies or by political interference. Where both the acquirer and his target are under inspection, the bodies responsible must work together, exchange information and help each other out. This will serve to speed up the assessments process.
It is frequently said that we should not indiscriminately open our doors to the invasion of capital from third countries or to the takeover of our institutions by big business. I firmly believe that even though we have to protect the interests of our markets, our institutions and our consumers, we must continue to honour our commitments in international forums such as the WTO. We must also ensure that our trading partners also honour their commitments. The current state of affairs is most encouraging. Several institutions based in the EU have successfully penetrated third countries where they have concluded mergers and takeovers in the financial sector. At the same time, however, we should not overlook problems in the EU, where organisations from some Member States have faced problems relating to the acquisition of firms in other Member States.
The purpose of this directive is neither to encourage nor to discourage acquisitions in the financial sector. Our objective must not be to disturb the normal functioning of the market. We must ensure, however, that there is a solid framework in place leading to the assessment, and then the approval or rejection, of potential acquisitions. The key point here is that prudential assessments must not become the mere exercise of discretionary powers, as this would result in delays and obstructions and would be ineffective and uneconomic. Also covered in the report are issues of hostile as opposed to friendly takeovers. Hostile takeovers are part and parcel of the normal functioning of the market.
The Commission believes that the authorities should adopt a position in favour of such initiatives or against them. Irrespective of whether an initiative is friendly or hostile, the decision rests with the shareholders. There need to be willing sellers in any acquisition. If, according to the directive, the prudential criteria have been met, there is no reason to query the value of agreements between willing purchasers and sellers.
To summarise: clear, fair and predictable approaches and processes are of vital importance to the proper functioning of the internal market. I believe that with this directive we will remove the current ambiguity. Thank you for your attention."@en1
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