Brussels, 19/03/2008 (Agence Europe) - The agreement reached by the ECOFIN Council on reforming the financial supervision system in the European Union “does not go far enough”, explained the chair of the European liberal party (ELDR), Annemie Neyts-Uyttebroeck, on Thursday 10 December 2009. Meeting a few hours ahead of the start of the European Council, Europe's liberals say that the deal did provide good fundamentals for the opening of talks with the European Parliament, which is co-legislator on this issue. Last week, EU finance ministers agreed that the new EU supervisors for securities, banking and insurance will be able to force a national supervisor to respect EU rules and/or ensure they are respected in the country in question, but they will not have binding powers in the event of crisis or in the event of disagreements among national supervisors, to the Commission's chagrin.
On climate changes, Sweden's European affairs minister, Cecilia Maelstrom, spoke on behalf of the Swedish Presidency in hoping the European Council would decide how much aid would be required for developing countries to help them cope with the impact of climate change from now until 2012. She said the EU aid would be provided on a voluntary basis, recognising the extreme budget deficits of some member states in the wake of the financial crisis but adding that some countries had already explained how much they would be donating. Asked about the pay rises for European civil servants suggested by the European Commission, Commissioner Siim Kallas said that a “model” that all member states had subscribed to was being used and had to be respected. The pay rise planned for this year might not be repeated next year and pay might even be reduced in the future, he said. Cecilia Maelstrom said that it would take time to get the extra 18 MEPs because new elections would have to be organised along, possibly, with an intergovernmental conference. (M.B./transl.fl)