Brussels, 23/02/2012 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission has appointed nine members of the expert group in charge of looking at ways of reforming the structure of the banking sector (see EUROPE 10532). Such reforms could, for example, include prohibiting banks from carrying out some activities or requiring banks to put certain activities (e.g. taking deposits from retail customers) into separate legal entities. The group is chaired by the governor of the central bank of Finland, Erkki Liikanen and will submit the conclusions of its work by the end of the summer. The other eight members of the group are: José Manuel Campa (University of Navarra, Spain), Louis Gallois (EADS, France), Monique Goyens (European Consumers Bureau, Belgium), Jan Pieter Krahnen (Frankfurt University, Germany), Alessandro Profumo (ex-UniCredit, Italy), Carol Sergeant (Adviser to the British Treasury, United Kingdom), Zdenek Tuma (former governor of the Czech central bank, the Czech Republic), and Herman Wijffels (ex-Rabobank, the Netherlands). In a press release, the commissioner for the internal market, Michel Barnier, explained that these experts will, “make all the recommendations as regards the structure of EU banks they deem necessary to strengthen financial stability and enable banks to fully play their role in favour of citizens, the single market and European growth”
Public procurement. The Commission is seeking to set up another advisory group of 20 experts, which will provide advice on public procurement. These experts will be appointed for three years and will analyse structural trends in public procurement. They will also inform the Commission about questions or sectors that are likely to require intervention. The experts will help towards the analysis of jurisprudence as laid down by the European Court of Justice. The date limit for submitting applications for these posts is Monday 5 March. (MB/transl.fl)