Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-09-08-Speech-3-007"
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"Madam President, the meeting of the ECOFIN Council, which has just taken place in Brussels, has enabled us to make progress on two issues, by adopting the European Semester, within the framework of budgetary consolidation and of the new budget monitoring procedures, and also by endorsing the agreement reached during a trialogue with the Commission, the European Parliament and the Council, of course, on all the financial supervision texts.
There we are, Madam President; that is what I have to report on the Council meeting that has just taken place in Brussels.
Alongside this, we have launched two debates, which will be continued at the end of this month at the informal ECOFIN Council meeting and with which we hope to make progress over the next six months: one on the bank resolution funds, or bank levy, and the other on the tax on financial transactions.
I should like to say a few words on both these points. With regard to the European Semester, this is a first step and one which will enable us, from 1 January next year, to introduce the new budgetary procedure with the Commission. We will call on the Member States, in spring, to submit certain budgetary data, the parameters used to prepare their budgets, the broad guidelines – without any detailed examination of each heading – before we continue with this procedure. We also hope to be able to add further provisions, among other things, and here I am thinking about provisions relating to sanctions. In any event, the Presidency will support the process by which to impose these sanctions, at the initiative of the Commission and, if possible, with a specific role being given to the Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs.
With regard to supervision, I wanted, once again, to thank the rapporteurs and all the Members who participated in this attempt to reach a consensus on the various texts, and also the Commission, Michel Barnier and his teams, as well as the successive Presidencies. I am referring here to the Spanish and the Swedish Presidencies, which preceded us. We now have texts which, from 1 January next year, will enable us to establish new surveillance and supervision structures and the Systemic Risk Board. This process will enable us to make progress under the right conditions, with a new architecture for the financial system and its supervision.
I should just like to point out that, although this has indeed been a long process, we have not finished yet; rather, this is the beginning of a new kind of European organisation and, very likely, the beginning of lengthy debates which will result in the adoption of various texts, which Commissioner Barnier will have the opportunity to present over the coming weeks. We are going to try to keep to a strict timetable on this issue.
I have now dealt with the two points which were the subject of formal decisions taken by the ECOFIN. Moreover, debates have been held, as I was saying, on two other issues: the first on bank resolution funds, or the bank levy, and the second – the debates must be kept very separate – on the tax on financial transactions.
I believe that, where the bank levy and the bank resolution funds are concerned, the debate which took place during the ECOFIN meeting yielded a number of guidelines which will enable the Commission to present more detailed and more specific proposals. I am convinced that, by applying the same proactive approach that we applied to financial supervision, we should be able to conclude this debate over the coming months with the creation of mechanisms which will ensure real coordination across Europe. Some countries have already imposed a levy on the banking sector, but it is important for us to progress in a coordinated fashion. I acknowledge that there are still some issues to be addressed. We will, in fact, be discussing these at finance minister level during the informal Council meeting at the end of this month.
As regards the tax on financial transactions, the debate is much livelier. We have further to go in reaching a consensus, but that is normal. This was an initial in-depth debate which allowed for specific questions to be asked about the ability to implement such a tax, but also about the ability to implement it in the EU or to discuss it with other partners. We will also revisit this issue at the end of this month in preparation for the G20 meetings, because it is clearly important for the majority of participants that we discuss it with our partners, not only on the other side of the Atlantic, but also in emerging countries.
To finish, I will simply say that many determined efforts still need to be made on this issue, and then choices will have to be made. If a tax of this type is introduced one day, how will the receipts be used? Some will earmark them for their national budgets, others will finance measures necessary to combat climate change, while others – and in Belgium, for example, we have already done this – will use them to finance development."@en1
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