Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-06-04-Speech-3-210"
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"en.20080604.24.3-210"2
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Mr President, Commissioners, Mr Pittella, first of all I should like to emphasise once again that the Commission proposals, Members’ aims and demands in the two reports and the effects of these reports on Europe’s citizens deserved a better time for debate and a bigger audience.
Further points are addressed: agents and brokers are important for greater competition in the financial services sector. We need easier access to the credit data register and credit card registers and we need the block exemption regulation to be extended because we do not think cooperation distorts competition in this area if the conditions are clearly stipulated.
I am asking the Commission and my fellow Members to examine this report in its entirety and to adopt and support the other considerations – the 44 clarifications and measures in my report.
Secondly, with these reports and the debate with the Commission we are initiating the next stage in strengthening supply and demand in the financial services sector. I should like to thank Mr Pittella, Mr Schmidt and Mrs Starkevičiūtė for their effective cooperation. The broad majority in committee has shown that we have moved closer together yet have been making further demands.
What do we want? We want to continue developing the internal market for retail financial services and turn it into a domestic market for all consumers and small- and medium-sized enterprises. I say this even though I know that the retail market is and will remain more of a local business than a global business. Nevertheless, there is great potential, since only 1% of EU consumers purchase cross-border financial services via distance communication methods, while this figure is at least 26% inland.
There are – as the reports by the Commission and Parliament state – unjustified obstacles, despite differing responsibilities, which does not mean that in the past nothing would have happened. I should like to point out that since 1988, the liberalisation of the movement of capital within Europe has continued. The introduction of the euro has brought benefits to the buying public and to the economy: the Financial Services Action Plan, the White Paper on Financial Services Policy 2005-2010 and SEPA, the Single European Payment Area – consumers and suppliers benefit from this political development. This is not the end, but we are moving purposefully along the path.
Both of the Commission’s reports – like ours too, perhaps – do of course have their weak points. One of these can be found in the Green Paper where it talks almost exclusively of consumers. This concerns the internal retail market as well as SMEs. Furthermore, consumer protection measures alone are still not able to encourage any suppliers – and we know this – to go beyond the borders. When you examine the sectors, the weak point without doubt is the fact that we draw only on a small amount of data. We suspect a potential market foreclosure based on prices alone.
In our report we therefore ask the Commission to carry out a proper impact study, which must also include a component correctly ascertaining the original market conditions and assess the integration and competitiveness of the market and the impact of an initiative not just by means of one indicator but by the largest possible number of measurements.
We do, however, also support the Commission in its aim only to pursue initiatives that demonstrably offer citizens tangible benefits, are soundly justified by thorough cost-benefit analysis and have been subject to proper impact studies.
I could now highlight other weak points, but I should also like to limit myself to what we, too, have emphasised specifically in the reports. An important message from this Parliament is that we clearly recognise the decentralised sector. We need savings banks and cooperatives along with public limited companies. We need cross-border local champions, not just global champions. They are responsible for local service provision, economic development in the individual regions and security of supply. The second point is that we need a balance between supply and demand. Thirdly, we need harmonisation of the licensing and registration formalities. Insurance companies and banks working across borders are subject to supervision by several financial authorities. We should be harmonising here and creating equal entry requirements.
We should be expanding e-commerce. Promoting the remote connection of businesses must drive forward the use of a safe electronic signature and there should be a reform of the Money Laundering Directive wherever it conflicts."@en1
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