Brussels, 09/07/2001 (Agence Europe) - Positive and negative, the stances on the rejection of the takeover directive by the European Parliament (see EUROPE of 5 July, p.7) generally aim at asking the European Commission to submit a new draft.
The EU's Banking Federation is "very disappointed" at the rejection of a directive that would have "facilitated commercial and industrial restructuring in Europe, freeing capital and labour to maximise economic efficiency, employment and growth". The FBE thus declares itself ready to "support all efforts to re-launch this important work in the future".
Within the Liberal Group in the European Parliament, Chris Huhne took up the plea of the Group's President Pat Cox, demanding a new Commission proposal. If the Commission acts swiftly, the new draft "could be adopted rapidly, even on a single reading", despite the change of heart by the German and Italian Governments, states the MEP. In the EP, Pasqualina Napletano (Demoncratici sinistra, Socialist Group) also regretted the text's rejection, "which will leave Europe without regulatory standards for takeovers". Ms. Napolitano highlights the progress the directive would have provided to worker information". "The Commission should get to work with determination to provide a new draft as quickly as possible, demonstrating that it takes account of the stances in Parliament on workers' rights", she said.. Still within the Socialist Group, on the contrary, Anna Ferreira and Harlem Desir, who voted against the draft directive not following their delegation, welcome the outcome of the vote, which, they say, "is a victory for those wanting an economic regulation within the EU that takes account of the industrial and social dimensions and not only financial interests". "We would like the Commission to present a new version of the directive as soon as possible taking full account of the most recent advances achieved, including within the Council, regarding worker information and consultation", they say.
The German finance ministry declared itself "surprised" by the decision of the European Parliament, while stressing that the German Government should nevertheless present a bill on 11 July on takeovers "in compliance with the European directive". This is what a ministry spokesperson indicated (quoted by AFP), stressing at the same time that the vote in the European Parliament "showed that the reservations of the German Government on this draft had also been shared by others".
In Italy, Silvio Berlusconi's Government, which had not hidden its hostility to the draft directive, also said it was satisfied with the rejection. The vote in the European Parliament demonstrates that "deceivers are not well viewed in Europe", declared the minister responsible for European affairs, Rocco Buttiglione, quoted by ANSA. Now, "we can no longer pretend that the European Parliament does not exist by sending it the same draft for each reading", he declared.