Brussels, 18/11/2014 (Agence Europe) - In his draft report on the annual report on the competition policy of the EU, the MEP Morten Messerschmidt (CER, Denmark) stressed the need to redirect the Commission's resources “away from obsolete or under-used budgetary lines in favour of DG Competition, to allow it to adopt a more proactive way of working”.
At a committee meeting on Monday 17 November, Messerschmidt said that several private players had access to vast resources, allowing them to pay the fines imposed on them and continue their anti-competitive practices. Speaking on behalf of the ALDE group, the Spanish MEP Ramon Tremosa i Balcells agreed with him, stressing that many multinationals had bigger budgets than DG Competition.
Messerschmidt's report also calls, “for the fourth time in a row, for a swift end to state aid regimes to the banking sector in times of crisis”. The Dane also flagged up infringements of the aid rules in the use of the structural funds. Following the LuxLeaks scandal, Austria's Michel Reimon (Greens/EFA) argued that the EP should take a clear stance on related issues and on the question of tax harmonisation. Lastly, Werner Langen (EPP, Germany) stressed the need for the Commission to talk not only to the States, but also to the EP, in the framework of changes to guidelines and modernisation efforts affecting the competition policy. Messerschmidt hopes that his report will be voted on in committee in January, and then at a plenary session in February. (EL)