EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
 






 
1999
2004
Session document
5 November 2002
B5-0000/2002
MOTION FOR A RESOLUTION
further to the Council and Commission statements
pursuant to Rule 37(2) of the Rules of Procedure
by Christa Randzio-Plath
on behalf of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs
on Financial Regulation, Supervision and Stability
RE\475978EN.doc
EN
PE 315.028
EN
B5-0000/2002
European Parliament resolution on Financial Regulation, Supervision and Stability
The European Parliament,
– having regard to the Final report from the EFC of 3 October 2002,
– having regard to the declaration by Commissioner Prodi of 5 February 20021,
– having regard to the report by the European Parliament on Financial Services Regulation2
– having regard to the conclusions of the Stockholm European Council,
– having regard to Article 202 of the Treaty Establishing the European Community,
A. whereas the ECOFIN is proposing that the so called Lamfalussy method should be
extended from the field of securities legislation to other areas of financial services
legislation, notably banking and insurance;
B. whereas there is no need for urgent decision since we must first have a clear view of what
changes are needed in the current body of legislation in the field of banking and insurance;
C. whereas such a course of action certainly is premature given the fact that the Lamfalussy
method has yet to prove its worth and that little effort has yet been put into possible
revisions of Article 202 of the Treaty in the convention;
D. whereas the institutional framework for the adoption of implementing measures within the
four-level framework on which the Lamfalussy method is constructed does not encompass
proper democratic participation and control;
E. whereas implementing measures adopted on the basis of a legal act adopted under the codecision procedure are not currently subject to an equal control by the two institutions;
F. whereas it is inappropriate that horizontal bodies tasked with policy-shaping do not
include representatives of the European Parliament,
1. Takes note of the Council's intention to extend the so called Lamfalussy process to the
entire financial services sector, and points out that this would require co-decision of both
the Parliament and the Council;
2. Does not yet understand the urgency for such a decision; is of the opinion that such an
extension is premature considering that the Lamfalussy process has not yet been
implemented and that there as a consequence is no concrete evidence of how it works in
practice, and that the convention has yet to address the inadequacies of democratic
1
2
Minutes of the sitting of 5 February 2002
P5_TAPROV (2002)0035
PE 315.028
EN
2/3
RE\475978EN.doc
monitoring of committees responsible for implementing legislation;
3. Recalls the European Parliament's position that the current institutional framework
governing the powers to adopt implementing measures is inadequate, unbalanced and
lacking transparency, and that there must be a clear council commitment to reform in
order to guarantee a proper institutional balance before the European Parliament could
agree to the proposed extension of the Lamfalussy Process to other areas of financial
services legislation; underlines that implementing measures adopted on the basis of a legal
act adopted under the co-decision procedure should also be subject to an equal control by
the two co-legislators;
4. Underlines that a commitment to a reform comprising a revision of Article 202 of the
Treaty and Decision 1999/468/EEC with a call-back procedure is a precondition for the
European Parliament's support for the extension of the Lamfalussy Process;
5. Recalls the difficulties of framework directives, especially that it is extremely difficult to
make a proper distinction between what are matters of political importance (Level 1), and
what are purely technical matters (Level 2); points out that issues which may at first seem
technical may once examined in detail prove to have significant political importance;
6. Calls therefore on the Heads of State and Government to make a clear and unequivocal
declaration of its intention and willingness to amend Article 202 of the Treaty in such a
way that the European Parliament is granted a right of call back over secondary
legislation,
7. Is opposed to the idea of giving the proposed Financial Policy Committee a policy shaping
role as no involvement of the European Parliament is foreseen; proposes instead that the
policy shaping role should be the shared between the Parliament, the Commission and the
Council, for instance within the framework of a reconfigured and renamed version of the
so called 2005 Group;
8. Regrets the weakened role of the Commission which in particular no longer will chair the
Financial Policy Committee;
9.
Considers in addition that the roles and tasks of the proposed new committees (banking,
insurance etc) need to be clarified and also the necessary place of the ESCB and ECB for
supervision, making sure that they do not interfere with the Commission's right of
initiative;
10. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission and the
President of the EFC.
RE\475978EN.doc
3/3
PE 315.028
EN