Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2012-09-12-Speech-3-363-000"
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"en.20120912.22.3-363-000"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner, problems with the democratic legitimacy, accountability and timing of the various proposals on the banking union were foreseen. Unfortunately my concerns have now increased in other areas. This is important because there is a single-market cost benefit in making the European Central Bank the euro zone supervisor. I am concerned that this benefit is now more marginal. We will, of course, aim to rebalance that.
Given the Treaty provisions – which I must say now look extremely deficient in the area of financial services – I supported the ECB as euro zone supervisor in the interests of credibility. However, we should not pretend that this is a mutualisation that gives over the pockets of the ECB to backing euro zone banks. The only back-up is the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), which is in fact dubious and indirect now. After that, in terms of accountability, it is the pockets of the Member States that are relevant.
Regarding the proposals themselves, Parliament must be fully involved in both pieces of legislation. There are ways that this can be done, and the moral pressure is enormous. We are turning the ECB into the banking supervisor at a time of crisis and a time when the ECB itself has moved centre stage in both economic and political events. Furthermore, given that the transfer of power to the ECB is not comfortable for many Member States – indeed maybe not for the majority of them – nor easy to balance in terms of single market procedures and accountability, it is all the more important that this directly elected House be seen to play a strong role beyond that of merely giving an opinion.
I acknowledge that you, Commissioner, and President Barroso have both spoken of this being treated as a package.
With regard to accountability, Parliament’s role must stretch beyond occasional hearings in the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs. I have conspicuously defended the independence of the ECB in monetary policy, but this must not inhibit due process on the supervisory side. We do not expect regulatory failure but, in such an event, an inquiry has to be possible. Without such inquiries we would not have found out about many aspects of the financial crisis and what went wrong. Waiving independence in this respect would help to demonstrate the separation of the supervisory side of the ECB from the monetary policy side.
On disciplinary matters, the procedure should, as far as possible, mirror the norms of national procedures. The ECB will, in effect, be prosecutor and judge, with the possibility of review by the European Court of Justice. If a banking licence is at stake then this review procedure is not fast enough. When it comes to procedures for hearings, the ECON Committee has more than once indicated dissatisfaction with the DG COMP hearing process and the lack of clarity in charges and evidence. I do not wish to see that as the model to follow.
More work needs to be done to protect the single market. A duty of care must be required from the ECB in relation to the single market, in the same way that it is required of the Commission. The interaction of the ECB and the European Banking Authority (EBA) needs adjustment to make sure that it is fair to all parties, and I know how difficult that will be. The ECB must adopt an outward-looking approach: for example, supervising all banks, including branches of third-country megabanks. That is a role for an international supervisor. There is, of course, also an issue of ensuring gender balance on the supervisory board. Having the Chair and Vice-Chair selected from the ECB’s men-only pool is not satisfactory.
Finally, supervisory policy is a matter for the single market and the EBA, not just the ECB. A single rulebook is no longer sufficient: we must have a single supervisory handbook, compiled using the expertise of supervisors from across the Union under the auspices of the EBA."@en1
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