Brussels, 26/04/2001 (Agence Europe) - The Competition Commissioner, Mario Monti, raised, this Thursday 28 April, with the Secretary of State to the German Federal Finance Ministry, Caio Koch-Weser as well as with Mr Hoppenstedt, President of the German association of building societies, the problem of guarantees granted to German public banks ("Anstaltslast" and "Gewartragerhaftung"). Let us recall that the Commission felt, at the end of January following an in-depth investigation, that these guarantees were State aids incompatible with Community law, and had called on the German government to present its comments as well as the solution(s) it proposed. Last 9 February, a first meeting already took place between Mr Monti and Mr Koch-Weser and, on this occasion, a path for agreement was found. An officially planned scission by the Westdeutsche Landesbank (WestLB), the largest of the German public banks, had been handed to the Commission, foreseeing the creation of two distinct entities, one undertaking activities of public service and the other continuing the commercial activities. However, according to the Commission, this plan did not bring any solutions to several other problems.
Following this second meeting, Commissioner Monti stated that it had been constructive and that it had allowed for fruitful progress in view of a solution to the problem of German public banks. "Mr Koch-Weser explained the intended approach. My preliminary reaction is that this is an important step in the right direction. I am please to see also that the German authorities are now prepared to speed up the process, and I am therefore ready to intensify our discussions", said Mr Monti. The Competition Commissioner also stated that the next step now consists of formalising our talks and that he had the intention of proposing as of 8 May to his colleagues the adopting of a decision aiming to call on the German government to officially recognise the need to change the system of guarantees presently enforced. The establishment of a formal framework would allow Germany to benefit from a period of two to three month to draw-up a proposal, also formal. (For details, see EUROPE of 27 January and 12 and 13 February).