Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-12-15-Speech-4-084-000"
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"en.20111215.5.4-084-000"2
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"Madam President, many thanks, Mr Schwab for your good work in producing this report on our Annual Report on EU Competition Policy 2010. I would also like to thank the rapporteurs of other committees of this House, such as the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection and the Committee on Transport and Tourism, who have also contributed to the report, for the work carried out by them.
I had hoped to bring this special system, which is an exceptional system for times of crisis, to an end at the end of this year. Unfortunately, this is impossible with the new tensions that have been noted in the market since the summer, since August. We need to continue with this exceptional framework, this exceptional system of public aid for the financial system in times of crisis. I hope that in a few months, before the end of 2012, I will be able to come to this House to tell you that that system is no longer necessary but in the meantime it will be necessary, with the adaptations that we have included.
One thing that I can say over and over again, which I have already said in this plenary session and on several occasions in the Committee for Economic and Monetary Affairs, is that the rigour that we apply to the control of such aid and the requirements imposed in exchange for such aid, in terms of restructuring of the entities that benefit, in terms of adequate burden-sharing between all the parties who benefit from such aid and the establishment of terms and conditions so that additional distortions are not created in our internal market as a consequence of such aid, those three principles still hold good and in fact hold good now more than ever to the extent that the need for that special treatment in times of crisis lasts longer than three years.
This is what I wanted to say. I express my thanks once again for the work carried out by Mr Schwab, by his colleagues on other committees and by the members of this Parliament in the form of this report.
Finally, I agree with Mr Schwab that from the next edition onwards, as discussed with him and his colleagues, the report will be more of a summary insofar as it relates to information that is available from other sources. We will not repeat information in the report that is available in real time on websites or that has been made available previously. In the report we will provide a better focus on questions that deserve special analysis and discussion because, as the honourable Members know, although many of the decisions in competition policy fall exclusively within the competence of the Commission, my intention from the outset has been and will remain until the end to keep Parliament involved on a permanent basis and in ongoing dialogue with the Commission so that EU competition policy meets all of its objectives.
In the Report on Competition Policy 2010, the Commission provides an account of its actions, as every year. As Mr Schwab says, there are already 40 reports on the development of a policy that is central to the realisation of the internal market and to the creation of conditions for economic growth, innovation and, generally, for the progress of our economies, thinking always – and I agree with what Mr Schwab has said – of citizens as consumers of goods or users of services, these being the ultimate beneficiaries of competition policy.
We are developing competition policy in times of crisis and I agree with Mr Schwab’s opinion, and we discussed this recently in the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, when I presented the Commission’s Work Programme for 2012 in this area: competition policy must take into account the fact that we are in crisis, but must not be weakened by the fact that we are in crisis, whether in the fight against cartels, where, of course, we have to continue to be extremely rigorous, or in the policy and in actions against abuses of dominant market position. In difficult times, it has a much more negative effect on companies and on all citizens if those in a position of power in the market abuse their power in order to obtain particular advantages to the detriment of other competitors and to the detriment of consumers.
We must continue to be vigilant as regards the possible competition risks of mergers and acquisitions, which are beginning to pick up because there is a lot of liquidity in companies and funds both within and beyond EU boundaries and there are purchase prices for assets and purchase prices for companies which have reduced as a consequence of the crisis and that give rise to opportunities. Accordingly, we continue to be active in every aspect of the fight against cartels, the abuse of dominant position and merger and acquisition control policy, above all because we are in crisis.
Of course, as Mr Schwab has said, the control of state aid, of public aid, is fundamental. On the one hand, in times of crisis, public aid increases and at this point I will refer specifically to aid to the financial system although aid to non-financial sectors has also increased during the years of crisis, and we have had a specific timeframe for the control of state aid in times of crisis, which has prevented protectionist temptations from materialising and has prevented the creation of barriers in the internal market as a consequence of public aid being used defensively to protect the companies of one country against the rest of the countries of the EU.
At this moment in time, that public aid framework is subject to limits in the majority of Member States and since the Member States are subject to very strict fiscal consolidation programmes, they have to prioritise the use of their public funds much better and much more carefully. Accordingly, in regulating state aid we must not encourage Member States to spend more but rather we must be strict in controlling public aid so that they spend more wisely and fine-tune their priorities. Resources are scarcer in public coffers and the need to encourage those activities that have a future, those activities that must pull our economies along and move towards an inclusive model of sustainable growth that is compatible with our environmental objectives is key.
Finally, there is aid to the financial system. As Mr Schwab has said, right from the start of the crisis in 2007 but above all since Lehman went into liquidation in September 2008 we, the Member States and the European institutions, have faced a dilemma. Either we authorised exceptional aid for the financial system or the financial system collapsed, and the collapse of the financial system would have frozen our economic activities for we cannot maintain economic activity without a reasonable functioning of the financial system. However, that public aid, basically in the form of bank guarantees and other forms of security but also the injection of public capital into a series of financial entities, or liquidity support or measures for dealing with impaired assets, has reached a level that is beyond considerable.
The Commission, through me as Competition Commissioner, has sent this Parliament a document, a study not only of the scale of such aid but also of its impact through to the end of 2010, a study which can, I hope, be updated in the coming months to take account of what has happened in 2011. Such aid to the financial system has, in general terms, resulted in about 9-10 points of GDP being offered in the form of guarantees or other forms of security by Member States in support of the financial system.
It has to be said that so far those guarantees and other forms of security have only been called upon in one case; in the rest of the cases it is a risk but a risk that has not materialised and that in the meantime permits Member States to receive income in exchange for providing that protection, that guarantee. About 3% of European GDP has been channelled to financial entities by way of public capital. That public capital has begun to be returned but there are still very significant financial entities in several EU countries in the capital of which the State has had to take a holding and in those cases there is clearly an assumption of risk. One per cent of GDP is aimed at public resources for dealing with impaired assets."@en1
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