Brussels, 30/01/2013 (Agence Europe) - “Commissioner Barnier is firmly committed to present legislation based on the Liikanen report, and our aim is to present this legislation in September of this year”, stated his spokesperson on Wednesday 30 January 2013 in response to an article in the Financial Times reporting that the Commission was scaling back its ambitions, following the recommendations of the Liikanen Report on the structure of banking (see EUROPE 10701). “In this, Commissioner Barnier will act to implement a key principle: when banking activities continue to raise a systemic risk - in spite of all EU rules that we are putting in place - such activities would have to be structurally separated from the rest of the banking activities”, he added. He underlined that any reform will have to maintain the diversity of banking models in Europe and allow European banks to remain competitive internationally and to finance the real economy. The Commission is currently at the stage of drawing up an impact assessment on the recommendations of the Liikanen Report. (MB/transl.fl)