Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2012-06-13-Speech-3-501-000"
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"en.20120613.29.3-501-000"2
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"Mr President, I was very pleased with the proposals that were put forward and with the questions that were put to us, and with their quality.
Ms Thein mentioned transparency. The draft that I submitted on country by country and project by project transparency has been well received. It is the object of work by your Parliament and by the Council of Ministers. Why did I use both texts, Ms Thein? Because the directive on transparency and the directive on accounting standards allow both listed and unlisted companies to be dealt with. Our ambition, which is quite bold – I saw that it was well received, particularly in Africa – is that 600 listed and unlisted companies should be required to declare what they pay and to whom in the area of the extractive industry and in the area of the logging industry.
On this, I am also minded not to increase, as Ms Thein wished, the burden for small and medium-sized enterprises, but we do have a duty to encourage transparency. This is a just cause.
I again thank Mr Bodu – I said this earlier – for the report that he presented on corporate governance. I am aware of his concerns on conflicts of interest. I am also aware of his desire not to add any burdens through unnecessary regulation – that is also my intention. I will always favour agreement over constraint. Sometimes, however, as we clearly saw with the financial crisis, Mr Bodu, we are required to build or to rebuild a new regulatory framework where we had unduly deregulated and eliminated any form of governance.
Moreover, I will not forget the question of employee involvement, the question of employee shareholding schemes and of everything able to create conditions for better social cohesion within companies. However, it is not necessarily in this text on company law that we should deal with these questions – I have spoken about this with Mr Andor and also with Mr Šemeta. I think, undoubtedly like you yourself, Mr President, that social cohesion is one of the keys to growth in business and in society. I would also say this to Mr Cofferati, who questioned me on this subject.
Finally, I thank Mr Lehne, Mr President, and the members of your committee for having placed this question on the agenda. I have shown you evidence of determination on the part of the Commission at this stage. We will now move forward quickly and precisely with the preparation of this action plan.
Again, this first debate that the Chair of the Committee on Legal Affairs, Mr Lehne, has called for, the resolution, the work that I have confirmed to you, which is quite ambitious, on this action plan, will all help to respond to the many speeches that were made.
I would like to thank Mr Zwiefka and Ms Wikström for their encouragement – I did hear what they said – to be ambitious and comprehensive.
Ms Regner mentioned two points, as did Mr Lehne. I will not be coming to back to the 14th directive. I have told you about the reassessment that we are carrying out, and the new proposal that we were going to prepare, if need be. Ms Regner, you brought up a point that Ms Steinbrück also mentioned earlier, which is a sensitive one, that of worker involvement. The protection of workers is a sensitive subject, and the area of worker involvement is an issue to which I personally, as part of my political engagement, have long been very alert, as have you, Mr President.
It is clear, moreover, that it is on this subject, Ms Regner, that the text on the European private company (SPE) is currently being blocked. I hope that it will be unblocked and, in any case, I have confirmed to you that I was willing to support a proposal for enhanced cooperation which would allow progress on this subject, if a sufficient number of States agreed.
Ms Andersdotter mentioned taxation. Clearly, when one talks about businesses, about the level playing field, about the single market, it is evident that these fiscal inequalities, or sometimes tax competition within the market itself, feature among the key points. That is why I am grateful to you for observing that the Single Market Act, which we spoke about earlier and which we will speak about again in September, contains a ‘taxation’ chapter, which my colleague, Mr Šemeta, proposed along with energy taxation, harmonisation of the bases of the corporation tax system and, in addition, the financial transaction tax.
Mr Stoyanov mentioned national and sometimes regional particularities. I endeavour to take account of these particularities in all laws that we propose up to the point at which, Mr Stoyanov, the single market is called into question. You cannot ask anything else of me in my mission as Commissioner for the Internal Market and Services than to eliminate fragmentation, and to allow the free play of fair and equitable openness in inter-company transactions – this is the point mentioned by Mr Paška – to facilitate cross-border employment, trade and communication. I take account of particularities, but my rule and my mission are nonetheless to construct, patiently and with you, the single market.
Mr Iacolino mentioned, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), as did Mr Stoyanov. I have spoken a great deal about these and I would like to remind Mr Iacolino that in all laws that we propose, and this will be the case for company law, I endeavour to take account of particularities. Here, the issue is a cross-cutting particularity: – 21 million European companies are small and medium-sized enterprises. I know that the growth that we are waiting for, that we must rebuild, will not come from decrees, nor from speeches, but from the regions and small and medium-sized enterprises, provided that through our laws, through simplifying our texts, we promote the most favourable climate for small and medium-sized enterprises.
Mr Baldassarre, I can confirm that the action plan that we are preparing will carry forward this very ambitious and difficult project of codifying company law, and we will also – I say this to Ms Kolarska-Bobińska – deal with the question of diversity, which I am working on in management boards, though not exclusively, with my colleague, Ms Reding."@en1
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