Brussels, 24/01/2007 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 24 January, the Commission decided to close the infringement procedure, opened in December 2005, against Italy over its national legislation concerning prudential supervision of the acquisition of stakes in domestic banks by banks from other EU member states. On Wednesday 24 January, the spokesperson for the European commissioner for the internal market, Charlie McCreevy, stated that in this affair Italy complied completely with Community law, which was why they were closing the case.
Its infringement procedure was a consequence resulting from the attitude of Antonio Fazio, the former Governor of the Bank of Italy, in this affair. Fazio unsuccessfully attempted to block a takeover of two Italian banks by foreign banks. Since then he has been obliged to resign and the Italian authorities have amended their banking legislation.
In September 2006, the Commission proposed the clarification of criteria and procedures applicable to assessing mergers and acquisitions in the financial services sector (EUROPE 9263). It drew up an exhaustive list of five assessment criteria which national regulation authorities will have to take into account when considering these kinds of operations. (mb)