Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-09-03-Speech-1-088"
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"en.20010903.6.1-088"2
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". – Mr President, may I begin by thanking the rapporteurs and others who have spoken in the debate this afternoon in the support of the Commission's proposals relating to the European Company Statute.
Turning to taxation, which also has been mentioned by a number of Members of Parliament, you may know that the Commission originally proposed specific tax rules for inclusion in the European Company Statute, but the Council insisted on deleting them. I am firmly convinced that tax rules are still needed and I am pleased that the Commission and Parliament seem to agree on this fundamental point. The Commission will probably be producing its analytical study of company taxation in the internal market and a related policy of communication next month.
Amongst other things, these documents analyse the tax obstacles for cross-border economic activities by all companies in the EU and possible ways of dealing with them. Members of Parliament only have to talk to business people in various Member States to know that those tax obstacles are extremely real and very serious.
The documents I have just mentioned also look into the specific situation of companies formed under the Statute for the European Company and the Commission believes that they will provide an excellent framework for determining the best way forward. In particular, I believe that serious thought should be given to a comprehensive solution for the current company tax problems for businesses active in more than one Member State.
In the aftermath of the study I alluded to just now, the Commission intends to launch a broad debate on the future of company taxation in the internal market and the need for fundamental reform, not least in order to achieve the EU objectives of becoming the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world, as agreed at the Lisbon European Council of March 1999. In this context we shall take up the tax issues relating to the European Company Statute and treat them as a priority.
Bearing in mind the specific issues involved here and the intention companies have expressed of creating European companies, I am confident that Parliament will support final adoption by the Council without further delay and I thank Parliament in advance.
As we all know, this has been one of the most laborious and long-standing matters which we have dealt with in the European Union, with over 30 years of painful and intricate debates.
Throughout this period, Parliament has always expressed its clear support for the idea of making a Community law form of incorporation available to businesses. However you have on different occasions, most recently in 1990, 1996 and 1998, expressed serious concern about some of the controversial aspects of the texts which were then being discussed, notably with regard to employee participation, which clearly was the most complex issue involved.
The texts which were finally politically agreed by the Council following the Nice Summits reflect most, if not all, of Parliament's concerns. Those texts are not perfect, but they do translate the broad consensus which now exists within the Council of Ministers and Parliament on the rules which should govern this new form of company. That consensus, as is well known, was extremely difficult to achieve and it must be safeguarded if we wish to see the texts finally adopted.
In five years' time we shall review both the regulation and the directive after an initial period of experience with their application. That will certainly be an opportunity to deal with their possible inadequacies and shortcomings, some of which have been rightly pointed out this afternoon. For those reasons, and taking into account the delicacy of the consensus established within the Council, the Commission believes that the only realistic option at this stage consists in having the texts agreed in December 2000 adopted by the Council as soon as possible without any changes.
We are aware of Parliament's reservations, as voiced by many speakers this afternoon, about the legal basis chosen unanimously by the Council. The Commission has always supported the strongest possible role for Parliament and we regret that it has been deprived of codecision powers in this matter. But we must admit that there are strong legal arguments in favour of the legal basis adopted by the Council. Even though the Commission did in the past consider other possibilities, we recognise that the Treaty as currently worded makes it difficult to use a qualified majority codecision legal basis in this context, especially with regard to the proposed directive.
Since many speakers this afternoon have voiced their doubts on the matter of the legal basis, perhaps I can say a few more words on this important matter.
The Commission proposed, for both the regulation and the directive, two legal bases allowing for the adoption of the acts by qualified majority voting within the Council. But at the end of last year the Commission was confronted with the fact that the Council had unanimously changed the proposed legal basis of both texts to Article 308 of the Treaty, which requires unanimity. The Commission is aware of and very much regrets the fact that this change has deprived Parliament of its codecision powers on a matter on which it has always expressed a strong interest. But the Commission cannot ignore the fact that the texts agreed by the Council in December 2000 follow very closely the opinions delivered by this Parliament over the years.
In addition, from a strictly legal perspective, the Commission can understand the reservations expressed by the Council on Article 95 as the correct legal basis for the regulation, since the regulation is not aimed at harmonising national company laws. The rules in question address only the future
and they do not affect other national provisions applicable to public limited companies at all. So, although the Commission regrets that the legal basis was changed, there is substance to the Council's opinion on the legal basis, and it cannot, just be dismissed out of hand."@en1
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"societas Europaea"1
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