Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-02-11-Speech-3-159"
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"en.20040211.6.3-159"2
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"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, first we had Enron and WorldCom. Now, with Parmalat, Europe has caught a cold. The simple fact is that there are criminals everywhere. There are not only good people, there are also bad people, and we have made laws against bad people. Unfortunately, bad people sometimes break laws. That is why I do not see any point in reinventing the wheel now and considering yet again if we should perhaps forbid such things yet again. They were already forbidden.
What we need is a rational analysis to establish where there may have been shortcomings in the supervisory system and what scope there is for fine-tuning legislation. I am very grateful, especially in the light of the statements made by the Commissioner and the Commission's proposals, which we are already aware of, that unlike America we in Europe do not intend to overreact but that we are instead trying, by means of individual measures, to improve the existing legal position. Our objective is not to totally prevent such things happening in future – that would be impossible – but to make them less likely. I believe that the proposals made by the Winter Committee in the Winter II Report aim very much in this direction. The Commission's Action Plan on company law has taken on board the essence of the proposals made in the Winter II Report. I do not wish to go into detail, for the simple reason that the Commission's Action Plan on company law is being dealt with by means of a special consultation involving a separate report to Parliament.
I would just like to refer to two points, by way of example. I particularly welcome the fact that the Commission is now to bring forward the Eight Directive in the foreseeable future, but I believe that regardless of the many good ideas it contains, we should perhaps consider if certain aspects could not be made a little more consistent. I think it is outrageous that it will still be possible for audit companies to both provide consultancy and carry out audits for large quoted companies, in Europe at least. I stand by the principle that if you audit you cannot advise, and if you advise you cannot audit. It would not in any case affect the market at all, because the cake would remain just as big, it would simply be sliced up differently. Against that background I very much welcome the fact that legislative proposals drawn up in America will also have an impact on international audit companies operating over here in Europe.
In other areas I sometimes doubt whether the Commission's proposals make sense, for example the requirement in the transparency directive for mandatory quarterly reporting by companies throughout Europe. On that point I would just like to comment that companies like Enron, WorldCom and others all submitted such quarterly reports. Unfortunately, they were all false. That is why I do not believe that this instrument is really helpful. It is not a question of providing information overload, but one of obtaining the correct information that investors require for decision making.
I shall conclude on that note and thank you for your attention."@en1
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