Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-09-22-Speech-3-073"
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"Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, the agreement on the financial supervision package which you will be voting on in a few moments, almost a year to the day since the Commission adopted these proposals, is, I think I can say, something quite historic in terms of the evolution of financial regulation in Europe.
However, on the whole, after the unanimous vote of the Council, after your vote today if you want it, from the beginning of next year, Europe will rely on a supervision model adapted to its needs and the reality of its financial industry. In most European countries, most of the banks belong to another country. This is what defines the transnational dimension, both of the financial establishments and the risks that they can bear.
We will have a supervision model that is adapted to prevent crises more effectively. We will be able to show citizens who are concerned and who wonder whether Europe has reacted that it is drawing concrete lessons from the crisis and that it is doing this at the same time as the Americans, and hopefully other continents, in the framework of the decisions of the G20.
As for the authorities, there is a huge amount of technical and budgetary work ahead of us – ahead of me – that we are committed to, so that the authorities effectively see the light of day on 1 January 2011. With the agreement of the European Parliament, we will have to appoint the future presidents and director-generals of these authorities. I would like to say before you that the only criterion that will govern these appointments must be that of independence and competence to make these new authorities succeed, and I am confident that the future President of the ESRB who, thanks to you, is the President of the European Central Bank, will have this concern for independence and this competence.
Then, ladies and gentlemen, we will determinedly fill the framework that we have on 1 January. The European Securities and Markets Authority will quickly gain power thanks to the role reserved for it in decisions that are taken or that will be taken: the proposal to put the supervision of credit rating agencies at European level, the draft regulations on over-the-counter derivatives and short-selling, and then the Credit Default Swaps, adopted just a few days ago.
We shall not stop there. This is a whole integrated programme to consolidate and stabilise our financial system and make it more transparent that we will follow with you, step by step: the regulation of the hedge fund and private equity sector that we are working on at this very moment; the implementation of the Basel III Accord on bank capital; the review next year of the directive on financial markets; the strengthening of sanctions within the framework of the revision of the directive on market abuse; and the introduction of a European framework for crisis management and resolution.
All of these measures must allow us to avoid the repeat of serious crises, to protect consumers, who are also taxpayers, and feed the sustainable and fair growth we are calling for.
Ladies and gentlemen, I have always thought that in the area of financial sectors, as in the area of the environment, prevention is always cheaper than cure. I would like to remind you that during this financial crisis, in one way or another, we mobilised 17% of European GDP to save the financial system. It is the banks that must pay for the banks, not taxpayers. Prevention will always be cheaper than cure.
We will present all of these measures in the framework of the agenda adopted by the Commission and supported by the ECOFIN Council on 2 June and our aim is for them to be implemented and presented with determination, voted for if you wish, in any case, adopted and proposed by the Commission, by the end of 2011.
Ladies and gentlemen, Madam President, I would like to say on a personal level that the quality of relations that we have had and the confidence without complacency that has driven our debates are, to me, an encouraging sign for the whole of this very rigorous and demanding agenda. On behalf of all the services of the Commission, I would like to thank you for that.
Since the beginning of the financial crisis, the European Union has reacted at international level. It initiated the G20 process launched at the Washington Summit in November 2008. The working group led by Mr de Larosière learnt the first major lesson from this crisis and immediately afterwards, the Commission drew up its proposals. Allow me to pay tribute to Mr de Larosière’s intelligent work, to which we owe a great deal at the moment.
With this agreement, we will have, if you wish, a framework in which, from now on, all initiatives will be situated, product by product, market by market, player by player, to implement what we committed ourselves to and what I committed myself to when I spoke to you on 13 January: intelligent regulation and effective supervision.
This framework that we will adopt is the foundation which gives credibility to all the sector-based initiatives that we want to take. We owe this agreement to the personal commitment and competence many of you have shown. Allow me, in turn, to thank your rapporteurs, Mr García-Margallo, Mr Skinner, Mr Sánchez Presedo, Mrs Goulard, Mr Giegold, Mr Tremosa i Balcells and Mr Balz, as well as the shadow rapporteurs.
I would also like to thank Mrs Bowles, who led this negotiation with great determination. I would like to thank the President of the Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN), Mr Reynders, for the proactive role he played with his teams – which was decisive – building on the good work that the Spanish and Swedish Presidencies had done before him.
Allow me in a rather unusual manner perhaps – I will tell you why – to say a word of thanks on behalf of the European Commission to the person beside me, Mr Wright, because in a few days, he will step down as Deputy Director-General for the Internal Market and Services. I would like to say that I believe that this man is a credit to European public service.
Ladies and gentlemen, the value added by Parliament is undeniable. It was decisive. In particular, I am thinking of the strengthening of the competences of the European supervisory authorities: mediation, emergency measures, drafting of legal and technical standards with a consumer protection role – which we will come back to – along with prevention of, and protection from, certain toxic financial products and the cross-border nature of the institutions which will be taken into account to a greater degree.
Then there is the establishment of the European Systemic Risk Board (ESRB) for which we owe much to Parliament, in particular, as regards its Presidency, and here, I would also like to thank my colleague and friend, Mr Rehn, and his staff.
All of that is, of course, a compromise. Some would have liked to go much further. On many issues, the Commission itself has made dynamic compromises and concessions. We regret, for example, the solution ultimately accepted concerning the drafting process for technical standards, which, in our view, must not serve as a precedent for other sectors, and what is more, I will confirm this in a statement."@en1
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