Brussels, 21/02/2002 (Agence Europe) - European Commissioner for Financial Services Frits Bolkestein attacks the American accounting standards which, he says, are responsible for Enron's fall. In an interview in The Financial Times, he explains that he asked his accountants whether the bankruptcy of Enron was "just a matter of hanky-panky" or whether it had something to do with the nature of American accounting standards (US GAAP, Generally Accepted Accounting Principles). His response was "yes, it does have something to do with US GAAP". With this in mind, the Commissioner plans to urge the United States to rally to the international accounting standards (IAS), which will apply in the EU as of 2005, during his meeting in May with Harvet Pitt, President of the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The Ecofin Council had adopted "general guidelines" in December last on a regulation that will impose the use of IAS norms as of 2005 to combined accounts of companies quoted on European stock markets, with a derogation until 2007 for certain companies quoted in third countries. The Commission had proposed this regulation to prevent European companies wishing to be quoted in New York from sliding over to US GAAP standards. "The IAS standards provide a better picture of the state of health of businesses, while the US norms are based on rigid rules that allow clever accountants to find escape routes", Frits Bolkestein's spokesperson said on Thursday.