Brussels, 12/04/2011 (Agence Europe) -A new organisation, Finance Watch, is being set up to counter the influence of the financial lobby groups in the process of the European institutions drawing up financial services rules. It will be up and running by the end of the year and its launch will take place in Brussels in June 2011. Finance Watch will develop counter-expertise on activities in the financial world and defend public interests in this domain. One of its key roles will be to react to the European legislative process, explained founder Thierry Philipponnat to this newsletter, giving the example of the future EU rules to increase bank capital requirements (the CRD4 Directive), and explaining that the organisation would be proactive when it comes to highlighting problems in the financial world.
Finance Watch's founder members are some 30 civil society groups, ranging from consumer and retail investment groups, charities and trade unions to research bodies, such as the European Consumer Bureau (BEUC), the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), Oxfam and Transparency International. Finance Watch will have a budget of €2 million and discussions are under way with potential sources of finance in Germany, France, the Netherlands and the European Commission. MEP Philippe Lamberts (Greens/EFA, Belgium) explains in a press release that the creation of Finance Watch is excellent news because it will help end the current bias where it seems that only arguments in favour of the financial industry's interests are ever heard. He said it was urgent to take account of the general public interest when discussing how the world of finance is organised. Although some 20 MEPs from across the board have been involved in its launch, Finance Watch will not have any direct links with the European Parliament. (M.B./transl.fl)