Brussels, 20/01/2004 (Agence Europe) - During the Ecofin Council, the Economy Ministers spoke of the implications of the Parmalat affair on European legislation. According to Commissioner Frits Bolkestein, it certainly exceeds the scale of Enron. Stressing the fact that detailed analysis must be carried out and that it is too soon to draw definitive conclusion, he asked whether it would be "going too far to say that in this case there was embezzlement, signs that the law was broken". Under these circumstances, the legislative arsenal will struggle to stop "people from their criminal behaviour", he said (see also pp. 11 and 13).
Bolkestein said that the lessons of the Parmalat affair should be taken into account to adapt the action plan on corporate governance presented by the Commission in May. As part of this plan, the Commission will present proposals on statutory audit of company accounts in early May, he confirmed. These proposals will focus on: the reinforcement of penalties against embezzlement, rules for the independence and ethics of auditors, increased audit standards, the principle of the responsibility of auditors for consolidated group accounts, the independence of audit committees of companies quoted on the stock exchange, improved co-operation between national audit bodies and those of third countries, especially the American PCAOB. The Parmalat case has also shown that certain measures planned under the action plan on corporate governance are especially urgent, said Mr Bolkestein. He spoke of the collective liability of the directors of a company for its accounts, and the publication of information on the structure of groups and intra-group relations. It is also a matter of urgency that Member States implement the directive on insider trading, to enter into force in October 2004 and the "prospectus" directive on stock market information, in force as of mid-2005. Mr Bolkestein expressed his hopes that the "transparency" directive would soon be adopted, which has been coming up against the issue of the publication of company accounts tri-annually.