Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-01-20-Speech-4-016-000"
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"en.20110120.3.4-016-000"2
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"Mr President, first of all, I would like to thank Commissioner Almunia, who is not here today but who, even though it is not the European Parliament’s domain, spends a considerable amount of time with us in the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs and is therefore investing time in an ongoing dialogue with Parliament on these matters.
I would also like to thank the rapporteur. We often do this formally but, Mr Eppink, although our parties often disagree on many things, I must say that while drawing up this report, there were no taboo matters in our discussion. All points were fully addressed in a very constructive spirit, and this should be highlighted.
I would now like to move on to three points with which I believe the Commission should move forward. One, as was pointed out, is the importance of the financial sector, which, in truth, is given too much weight in the economy.
We know the financial crisis has meant that the financial groups that came through did so bigger and stronger. So there really is a problem of market distortion in that area, and this does not only relate to special State aid measures established by Member States to help their financial sector, but also, and we emphasised this in the report, various forms of direct aid from the European Central Bank (ECB) that are, I am sorry to say, not very transparent at all.
We therefore urge the Commission to focus on the way in which the ECB has helped the banks, because it is clear that the banks that went to the ECB to seek help benefited from a kind of aid that those that were better managed did not request. Banks that were properly managed, therefore, have somehow been victims of a market distortion.
The second sector is that of raw materials, particularly food commodities. We know that large agro-industrial businesses and major retailers have a market position that gives them far too strong an influence over price formation. A market survey on this issue is absolutely vital.
Another point, and not the least important, is tax competition. You know that most Member States, including my own and many others, practise forms of tax competition that are very harmful to the general European interest. These forms of competition must be stopped. I know that the Commission is beginning to take an interest in this issue once again, but I strongly urge Commissioner Almunia and Commissioner Šemeta to tackle this problem.
Moving on to my last point, we were pleased to note that Commissioner Almunia has already imposed fines in various sectors since the beginning of his term of office, particularly in the air freight sector. We also welcome the opening of the investigation into Google, which I think partially answers the point Mrs in ’t Veld made a moment ago."@en1
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