Brussels, 17/12/2008 (Agence Europe) - Martin Schulz of Germany, President of the Socialist Group at the European Parliament, Pervenche Berès of France, who chairs the parliamentary committee on economic and monetary affairs, and Poul Nyrup Rasmussen of Denmark, who is the author of an EP report on hedge funds, wrote to the president of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, on Tuesday 16 December. In their letter, they say: “We are writing to express our dismay at the increasingly obvious fact that Commissioner McCreevy is trying to avoid implementing the demands of the European Parliament for regulation covering all financial players”. They believe Commissioner McCreevy's actions are offensive and that they are counter to guarantees given by Mr Barroso himself and by Council President Nicolas Sarkozy as well as to the declaration of the G20 summit launching reform of the global financial architecture.
The three Socialist MEPs point out that the main EP political groups support the Rasmussen and Lehne reports calling on the Commission to launch legislative initiatives in order to provide a framework for hedge funds and private equity (see EUROPE 9747). On hedge funds, “we do not need further consultation, but we need action and concrete proposals”, they said. On the subject of private equity funds (see EUROPE 9804), they consider the behaviour of the internal market commissioner “still more provoking” in so far as Mr McCreevy advises industry to subscribe to insufficient guidelines in order to evade regulation. “Commissioner McCreevy's action shows a total absence of respect for the European Parliament and appears to be more appropriate for a paid lobbyist of the finance industry than a European commissioner”, the three Socialist MEPs say, adding that the consultation announced is only aimed at wasting the lawmaker's time. Back in 2007, the Commission carried out a consultation exercise on how appropriate it was to regulate the activity of certain non-harmonised funds.
Answering press questions on Wednesday 17 December, Mr McCreevy's spokesman confirmed that the consultation exercise on hedge funds would be launched “within the next few days”, perhaps even on Thursday, and would result in a conference in February. Speaking ironically about the absence of the three people who had written the letter, Mr McCreevy had, in early December, told the parliamentary committee of his intentions (see EUROPE 9796), saying that the approach followed was the usual one. Mr Barroso's spokesperson assured that, within the College, there was “only one approach” on this dossier. (M.B./transl.jl)