ECON committee vote on CRD IV own initiative report
07 October 2010
This report is a call of the European Parliament on the Basel Committee to be included in the appropriate way in the ongoing negotiations and a call to make necessary adjustments to the framework so that the European industry and economy are not disadvantaged.
The European Parliament must play an active role and strongly influence the revision of the rules already in the process of negotiations in the Basel Committee. The rapporteur believes that, as the European Parliament is the democratically elected European body who will later on co-legislate on the Commission proposal of the Capital Requirements Directive (CRD 4 Directive), should be involved in the negotiations process at an early stage, and asks the Basel Committee and the Commission to take necessary steps in this respect.
Although there is a strong international commitment to revise the Basel framework, it is important that such revision strikes the right balance between various business models, investment and traditional retail banking, different legal forms and predominant financing of corporate sector through bank lending in Europe. While the American economy is mainly financed through the capital market, the European corporate sector relies on the lending capacity of the banking sector. 80% of investment and lending in Europe is based on bank credits. The revised rules should take into account such differences without penalising certain markets or business models. Otherwise, there is a risk of harming the European economy and industry.
© European Parliament
