Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-04-24-Speech-4-062"
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"en.20080424.6.4-062"2
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Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much indeed for this debate, in which the main thrust of the report has certainly received support and alternatives have been outlined in various areas.
I should like to pick up on two things. There is one point on which I am sure we all agree, and it has been made repeatedly today by speakers who fully support this general development, namely that the IFRS organisation has now taken some action, for example on governance issues, as a result of the pressure applied by this House – by the European Parliament – and by the European Union. There are times when we need to be quite blunt – and I am aware that some of my female colleagues have criticised me in that regard – because certain individuals who have appeared before this House in recent years have occasionally given the unmistakable impression that the European Parliament is of little interest to them. How little progress there has been is clear from the proposal on governance, where it is suggested that the future supervisory bodies may take advice only from persons they have appointed. All I can say is that anyone required in future to report to a parliament on how he or she voted on a particular point should make sure that a share of responsibility and a say in policy-making is part of the package. That is the first point.
How little commitment there is on the matter of impact assessments is clear from current discussions, in which the IFRS organisation is still refusing to conduct them.
Turning to the question of standards for SMEs, I have something to say to all those who believe we should introduce them on a voluntary basis. Inspired here by John Purvis – John, this is for you – I intend to quote an independent commentator. Peter Holgate, a partner in PricewaterhouseCoopers, writing in the German edition of the
said the following:
‘I don’t take the European position all that seriously. Even if they end up not endorsing it, various countries could adopt it in their national generally accepted accounting principles. If a few major players do that you have it brought in by a different door even if the EC doesn’t want to play ball.’
At the end of the day, this means you have to assume that, once a few states have adopted these standards, you will have them imposed on a compulsory basis throughout the European Union. Such is the strategy of this organisation. PricewaterhouseCoopers has already indicated that they see this as a business model. That is why we need our own European set of standards for SMEs: we can build on the IFRS if that is appropriate but if it is not, then we will develop our own standards. It is the Commission’s responsibility to ensure that we do not have standards foisted on us through the back door, which nobody wants but which would then become generally binding."@en1
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