Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-01-15-Speech-4-035"
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"en.20040115.2.4-035"2
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"Madam President, I shall start with the Kauppi report – and I join in the congratulations to Mrs Kauppi on the birth of her son this week. As has been noted, the title of this proposed directive, which will overhaul the existing mutual assistance directive, is slightly misleading, given that it will only, in effect, apply to direct taxation and insurance, indirect taxation in the form of VAT and excise duties being dealt with in separate instruments. That should be clarified.
The thrust of this proposal is to prevent tax evaders from hiding in other Member States by establishing, on a voluntary basis, provisions for cooperation and mutual agreement in conducting tax controls. This will be a welcome advance. The change of legal basis from one relying on QMV – Article 95 – to one providing for unanimous voting by the Council – Articles 93 and 94 of the Treaty – is very much in line with precedent and, fortunately, with my own government's position on tax legislation. It is not possible to separate the administrative element of taxation powers, including mutual assistance provisions, from the tax raising prerogative and this should remain subject to unanimous voting.
I turn to the report by Mr Purvis. I congratulate him on a very balanced and informative report, notwithstanding the slightly odd decision to link these two topics – hedge funds and derivatives – in a single report, as trade in derivatives is already far more regulated in the EU than the area of hedge funds. As mentioned in his report, Ireland has been extremely active and successful in broadening access to hedge funds. However, a clear regulatory framework must be put in place to secure minimum protection for investors while expanding Europe's paltry 15% share of total global hedge fund assets. SAIVs – sophisticated alternative investment vehicles, or hedge funds, as they are generally known – and derivatives have benefited over the last few years from the stock market downturn, as they did from the widening of the field of investors that the stock market experienced during the booming 1990s, when areas of investment that had previously been largely confined to experienced and qualified financial experts or fund managers were democratised as individuals and smaller groups new to the market put their money into shares at that time. I agree that we need an appropriate EU-wide regulatory regime for hedge funds which will prompt them to locate in the EU, rather than offshore, and provide the benefits of a common European passport through mutual recognition. However, we need to take a suitable light-touch approach to regulation in order to provide incentives that will encourage investment in funds based in the EU rather than continue to drive them offshore. Coordination of national regulators will provide for more flexibility within the single market, which is welcome.
With regard to derivatives, I support the timely call for the Commission to present a report on their role on the capital markets."@en1
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