Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-10-06-Speech-3-200"
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"Madam President, Mr Karas, ladies and gentlemen, just a few days after the agreement reached in the Basel Committee, I think that it is very important that Parliament is demonstrating its commitment to banking reform and clearly showing that Europe behaves and must behave in a way appropriate to its global standing. I would like to thank Mr Karas and the members of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs for their commitment and for this excellent report.
In my view, this agreement is good news. It is an important step in strengthening the rules and global financial stability, and this new Basel Agreement will help to establish common rules for the banking sector internationally, which is extremely important. This agreement also paves the way for a balanced solution: businesses benefit from an adaptation period providing sufficient time to meet these new requirements, which will allow for the health of the banking system to be gradually improved without, we think, compromising economic growth.
Ladies and gentlemen, my services, my colleagues – whom I want to thank – have done a great deal of work in Basel to find common ground with our non-European partners. I hope that the Heads of State or Government of the G20 will approve this new Basel Agreement during the forthcoming Seoul Summit in November. However, we will not stop there.
The next step will be to reform the basis of the banking system at Union level. We always take the specific circumstances of our Union into account when implementing international rules, and, ladies and gentlemen, the CRD 4 Directive will be no exception; here, too, we will take the specific circumstances of the European Union into account. Furthermore, in this context, we will specifically carry out the macro-economic and micro-economic analysis which forms part of this Basel Agreement, and you and your colleagues will naturally be informed about it, Mr Karas.
Our aim is to adopt the proposal for a directive during the first quarter of 2011. This means that the Member States need to transpose it before 1 January 2013. That will give them enough time to conform to these new provisions.
We must nevertheless remain realistic. This agreement reached in Basel constitutes very significant progress, but I repeat: there is still much to be done. We will work together with you and with the Member States in the coming months to implement one of the essential reforms of the post-crisis period. I would like to be very clear on this point too: we will be very attentive and very vigilant when it comes to ensuring that our main global partners – above all, the Americans, but not only them – also implement this essential reform correctly and in due time. This is an issue which I shall raise during my second and very imminent visit to the United States, at the end of this month.
Finally, I agree with you, Mr Karas, that it is essential for the European Parliament to play an even greater role in this process. That is why, in conclusion, I pledge to keep you – your committee and the plenary session – regularly informed of all future developments within this Basel Committee.
Mr Karas, you raise a number of critical points which will be studied very carefully before the adoption of our proposal for revision of the Capital Requirements Directive next spring.
I first want to say that I share your view, Mr Karas, on the importance of problems which are specifically European – our banking economy in Europe does not resemble those of the other regions of the world in all areas – the necessity, Mr Karas, of an in-depth impact assessment and the need to maintain a level playing field at international level.
We must, of course, stress that increased capitalisation of the banks is a necessary precondition for making the financial sector more stable and strong, but it will not be enough. As you know, ladies and gentlemen, since you are working on it, we must also have stricter supervision, stronger corporate governance, supervision of speculative financial activities and a framework for crisis management and for resolving banking crises. That is our road map. Thanks to you in particular, much progress has already been made in this direction. I am thinking of the supervision agreement and the Green Paper on the governance of financial institutions.
The Commission, for its part, is doing its job, and it will do it in such a way that by the end of next spring, we will have submitted to you and to the Council all the texts that are expected of us for implementing the recommendations of the G20. It is in this spirit that, a few days ago, I presented the draft regulations on derivatives and on short selling. In a few days, we will put forward a new document on the bank resolution and crisis management tools.
Returning to today’s debate, however, I would like to discuss three issues, with regard to which I share Mr Karas’s concerns. The first is the recognition of capital instruments issued by cooperative banks, or mutuals, under the definition ‘tier one capital’. The agreement reached in Basel will allow us to take account of the specific circumstances of these unlisted banks, which play an essential role in financing European businesses. My services are now working with experts from the Member States on defining the technical arrangements for properly implementing these new principles in European legislation.
Second, as regards the rules on liquidity and the definition of ‘liquidity buffer’, the Commission is fully aware of the problem raised in particular for Denmark and Austria. Indeed, the very serious concerns expressed by the Commission in this context are the very reason why an agreement has not yet been reached on this issue. We had some reservations, and my services will continue to work with our partners in Basel to find a solution, particularly as regards the recognition of covered bonds.
The third point concerns the leverage ratio. We cannot go back on our commitments made at the G20 on this point. We are, however, satisfied with the agreement reached in Basel, which makes the leverage ratio part of Pillar 2 during a reporting period, as Mr Karas said a moment ago, the aim being to transfer it under Pillar 1. This transfer will not be automatic, and we will integrate a revision clause on this subject into our draft proposal for CRD 4.
I would now like to say a few words on the implementation of the Basel Agreement in the European Union. This financial crisis has shaken the world. It has taught us some lessons, which we must take on board. The global prudential rules were not suited to real-life conditions. In addition to the reforms which have already been implemented in order to strengthen the existing rules, we now have the agreement recently drawn up in Basel by the group of governors of the central banks and those responsible for banking supervision."@en1
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