Oviedo, 15/04/2002 (Agence Europe) - At the informal EcoFin Council of Oviedo, European economy and finance ministers and governors of national banks and the European Bank invited the EU's Economic and Financial Committee to pursue thoughts on co-ordinating financial monitoring systems in Europe, on the basis of ideas put forward by the president of the Central Bank Wim Duisenburg and a joint letter from British and German Ministers Gordon Brown and Hans Heichel (see EUROPE of 13 April, p.7). The Committee should submit a mandate for the meeting of the EcoFin Council in May, said Council President Rodrigo Rato, without stipulating what the mandate's guidelines should be: the creation of a single European regulator, a system of regulation under the auspices of the European system of Central banks and the European Central Bank, notably. The aim is to provide greater clarity to the "patchwork" of regulation systems of Member States, notably for monitoring banks and insurance companies, said Commissioner Frits Bolkestein. So far, the line defined by the group of experts headed by the Vice-President of the Dutch Central Bank, Henk Brouwer, under the auspices of the Economic and Financial Committee, was that European-wide harmonisation was not necessary, better co-ordination sufficing. The EcoFin Ministers, however, want to make their mark, before the Convention takes over this debate, Commission sources point out.
At the Council, the ECB suggested developing the role of its supervision committee, whereas Germany and the United Kingdom pleaded in favour of co-ordination under the authority of the EcoFin Council and thus the finance ministers. German Minister Hans Eichel did however try to play down these differences, highlighted by the German and British press, assuring that "there is no confrontation" with the Central Bank. There is no question of sidelining the Central Bank, but, for the banking and insurance sectors, using the Lamfalussy method, developed for the financial services, he stipulated. "The Brown/Eichel letter is a contribution in the context of Article 105(5) of the Treaty, that provides a mandate to the system of central banks of the Fifteen to ensure good monitoring practices. The ECB is pursuing the same objective. The Economic and Financial Committee will take account of the two approaches", remarked the President of the ECB, Wim Duisenburg.