Economic crisis: the European Parliament's response

Published: 14 May 2009 y., Thursday

 

Eurai
The speed and depth of the financial crisis has been brutal and over the last year MEPs have been hard at work on a two-fold approach to the crisis: first, by introducing a clearer European regulatory system with more banking supervision, and second, by trying to mitigate the effects of the recession on peoples' lives.

Tighter bank supervision, stricter credit rules
 
In October, a few weeks after the full outbreak of the crisis in Europe, MEPs told the EU's executive, the European Commission, that they wanted new legislation to improve the supervision and regulation of financial services in Europe. Concrete results were approved in April and May and include:
 
the Capital Requirements Directive, which sets down new rules to increase transparency, improve supervision and ensure proper risk management for banks.the Solvency II Directive creates new rules for the supervision of insurance companies, by introducing more sophisticated solvency requirements. stricter rules for credit rating agencies which should improve the transparency and independence of European credit rating. 
MEPs have also backed measures to help combat rising unemployment:
 
they agreed to widen the scope of the “Globalisation Adjustment Fund” to help workers who lose jobs because of the crisisthey backed full rights for temporary workers full rights from day 1they widened the scope of vocational training and educationMEPs also backed a maximum average 48 hour working week, with no opt outs, however they couldn't reach agreement with ministers so the Working Time directive has gone back to the drawing board.

Other measures
 
MEPs also backed a series of other proposals to bolster economies during the crisis:
 
Parliament twice agreed to raise the ceiling for loans to EU countries that are not in the eurozone and which are more exposed to the impact of the downturn, to €25 billion in November from €12 billion and then to  €50 billion in April.
 
In December they broadly backed the €200 billion financial stimulus package.
 
Also in December, they also agreed to increase bank deposit guarantees - so if a European bank fails, citizens' savings should be guaranteed up to €100,000.
 
Parliament is also calling for the Small Business Act to be made legally binding and wants a uniform statute for the European private company.
 
The majority of MEPs welcomed the result of the G20 summit in London, which agreed $1.1 trillion to encourage economic stability and a recovery in international finance, credit and trade, as well as to strengthen regulation of financial markets. But they also called on world leaders to agree on the closure of all tax and regulatory havens and regulatory loopholes.

 

Šaltinis: europarl.europa.eu
Copying, publishing, announcing any information from the News.lt portal without written permission of News.lt editorial office is prohibited.

Facebook Comments

New comment


Captcha

Associated articles

The most popular articles

Commission approves amendment to Lithuanian crisis measure allowing small amounts of aid

The European Commission has approved, under EC Treaty state aid rules, an amendment to a Lithuanian scheme allowing aid to be granted of up to €500 000 per company, initially approved on 8 June 2009. more »

The EU and Russia reinforce the Early Warning Mechanism to improve prevention and management in case of an energy crisis

As agreed by the President of the European Commission and the President of the Russian Federation during the last EU-Russia Summit in Khabarovsk, the EU and Russia have strengthened the current dispositions under the EU-Russia Energy Dialogue to prevent and manage potential energy crises, with an enhanced Early Warning Mechanism. more »

EU provides EUR 1 billion for trade facilitation in developing countries

The European Union has today presented to the World Trade Organization the trade facilitation projects it has financed between 2006 and 2008. more »

Commission approves Romanian state guarantee to Ford Romania

The European Commission has authorised, under the EC Treaty’s rules on state aid, a planned state guarantee by Romania to enable Ford Romania SA to access a loan from the European Investment Bank (EIB). more »

Getting out of the red

The economic crisis has left many countries with budget deficits well over the 3% limit. The commission is proposing deadlines for reducing the gaps. more »

In October 2009 prices for consumer goods and services went down by 0.4 per cent

Statistics Lithuania informs that in October 2009, against September, prices for consumer goods and services went down by 0.4 per cent. more »

Lithuania and China aim at strengthening economic and trade dialogue

Lithuania’s Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs Šarūnas Adomavičius took part in bilateral political consultations with representatives from foreign affairs, commerce and transport ministries of the People’s Republic of China. more »

Excessive Deficit Procedure steps: the Stability and Growth Pact as the anchor for fiscal exit strategies

Under the budgetary surveillance powers conferred by the EU Treaty, the European Commission today proposed to the Council to set 2013 as the deadline for the correction of the budget deficits in Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Slovakia, Slovenia, the Netherlands and Portugal. more »

World Bank and Moldova Join Forces to Fight Impacts of Climate Change on Agriculture

A joint partnership between the World Bank, the Moldovan Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry and the Ministry of Environment was launched in Moldova’s capital in the late days of October. more »

World Bank Group President Zoellick Launches Global Urban Strategy at Inaugural Infrastructure Finance Summit

World Bank Group President Robert B. Zoellick today joins senior officials from the Government of Singapore to launch a new global urban strategy that will guide Bank advisory services and financing in the sector over the next decade. more »