Brussels, 22/04/2008 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 22 April, the European Parliament approved Jean-Pierre Audy's (EPP-ED, France) report on the European Investment Bank's 2006 annual report (613 votes in favour, 51 against and 20 abstentions). This vote translates the firm support of the EP for the EIB's work, and MEPs called on the bank to maintain its triple-A excellence rating and suggested that genuine regulatory control be exercised on the EIB's activities.
MEPs backed their rapporteur in his view that it was now the time to set up a genuine banking regulatory control system. They also suggested that the Committee of European Banking Supervisors (CEBS) on behalf of the EIB undertook an examination of the conditions for a regulatory mission, which could, in the absence of a real European banking regulator, assume this task. In this regard, Mr Audy's report is willing to discuss all the possible solutions, such as, for example, CEBS intervention or intervention by a national regulator or different national regulators that rotate on an annual basis.
Speaking at the debate preceding the vote, the EIB president recalled the need for banking supervision that went beyond controls carried out by the European Court of Auditors and the EIB's verification committee. Audy explained that three ways ahead were possible. He cited the Maastricht Treaty, which allowed the European Central Bank to exercise this control mission but expressed strong doubts as to whether member states would give their unanimous support to this option. His second option, put forward by Philippe Maystadt, involved calling on a national regulator, as is currently the case (the Luxembourg regulator exercises this role). The third possibility consisted of strengthening the EIB's verification committee so that it became a “quasi-supervisory body”. At the end of the debate, Jean-Pierre Audy said the idea of the ECB becoming a supervisory body on behalf of the EIB appeared to be a good one. The rapporteur also said that a short term solution might be to strengthen the “Luxembourg regulatory body”.
MEPs also ratified the rapporteur's analysis on the lack of necessary funding (calculated at €600 billion) for constructing large-scale European infrastructure, particularly the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T). They are suggesting that the Commission carries out (taking into account the quality of its human resources, follow-up and experience) a strategic reflection mission on funding infrastructure that does not rule out any possible solutions. At the end of the debate Audy said: “I think the time has come for having a broader regional development policy that is partly endorsed by investment. It is necessary for the public sector to invest”. Mr Maystadt stated that there was a need to encourage private sector investment and pointed out that there were already mechanisms on risk guarantees for the first few years of project development. (O.L.)