LAMFALUSSY-PROCESS - EU-Legislation without the people – Lamfalussy process of “committee legislation” in banking and insurance gets good notes by the Inter-institutional Monitoring Group Interim Report. The Interinstitutional Monitoring Group for the Lamfalussy process issued its first interim report. LAMFALUSSY According to a report delivered by Baron Alexandre LAMFALUSSY financial regulation within the European Union had been far too lengthy. Lamfalussy advised Parliament and Council to reduce their own involvements in the regulation of securities markets and delegate the completion to administrative committees. This process accelerated the harmonisation of securities supervision. The goals: speed, completeness and more know-how involved have been reached. More regulation than ever passed and deputies who anyhow had been afraid of getting involved in complicated financial regulations were happy to be freed from it. In the language of the European Commission it reads: “The Lamfalussy process is a four-level regulatory approach which aims to create a more efficient system for the EU institutions to prepare, adopt and implement new legislation to integrate financial markets. The Final Report of the previous Monitoring Group, published in November 2004 and covering the European securities markets showed that the Lamfalussy process has operated well so far. It is now necessary to establish how to deepen the extended Lamfalussy structure and make it work to its full potential.” PARLIAMENTS ARE REPLACED BY COMMITTEES. “In order to extend the Lamfalussy approach to the other financial services areas, the competencies of two existing committees were adapted and two new committees were created. In the banking sector, the former Banking Advisory Committee (BAC) developed into the Level 2 European Banking Committee (EBC) and the Level 3 Committee of European Banking Supervisors (CEBS) was established. Similarly, in the insurance area, the Insurance Committee (IC) was transformed into the Level 2 European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Committee (EIOPC), and the Level 3 Committee of European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Supervisors (CEIOPS) was set up. Furthermore, in the securities sector, the competencies of the European Securities Committee (ESC) and Committee of European Securities Regulators (CESR) were extended to undertakings for collective investment in transferable securities (UCITS).” (6/7) This extension now even includes retail banking where consumers and other social stakeholders who normally expect more from those they elect than from “experts” are concerned. But this second interim report of a small expert committee which was created to monitor this process did not even mention these concerns which had for example been expressed by the FIN-USE 2004 report on the Post FSAP reports of the Commission which are not even mentioned. “The Group affirms that there is general and strong support for the Lamfalussy process expressed both by invitees to the Group's hearings and by contributors to the public consultation.“ (5) BUT WHO IS INVOLVED? No statements of social actors are cited. The group itself represents industry. “Members of the IIMG are Mr Freddy VAN den SPIEGEL (Belgium), Chief Economist and Director of Public Affairs, Fortis Bank (Chairman); Dr. Karl-Peter SCHACKMANN-FALLIS (Germany), Executive Member of the Board of the German Savings Banks Association; Mr Johnny ÅKERHOLM (Finland), President and CEO of the Nordic Investment Bank (NIB); Mr Rainer MASERA (Italy), Chairman of Rete Ferroviaria Italiana (RFI)” THEY MET WITH THEIR PAIRS. “While drafting the first of its own series of reports, the Group held hearings with stakeholders closely involved in the Lamfalussy process. Inter alia, the members of the Group met with Chairman of the Committee of Wise Men, Baron Alexandre Lamfalussy, first Chairman of the former IIMG, Mr Prada, representatives of the three European Institutions, Chairmen of Level 2 Committees, all Level 3 Committee Chairmen or Vice- Chairmen and consumer representatives. In addition to the hearings, the Group sent a questionnaire to industry associations and federations at the European level on market participants' experience of the Lamfalussy process and received over 30 contributions. The Group has taken note of all the feedback from all these consultations, although some of the suggestions made will only be reflected in the Group's further work over the next two years. A feedback statement is included as Annex 4 to this report. (5)” “The members of the Group intend to conduct specific consultations in the near future which will give interested parties the opportunity to make their views known on this report and, in particular, on the identified bottlenecks.” The annexed list of respondents cites the “Danish Shareholder Association” as the only “consumer” organisation. Other stakeholders like trade unions or ethical groups are not even categorized. IP, B, S, AM are nearly exclusively the IDs behind the name of industry representatives. EFFECTIVENESS The report concentrates on questions of effectiveness. Where homogeneous groups without important differences in interests know what they want to achieve, administrative procedures are always far more effective than democratic procedures. But does this mean we can abolish democracy? “The main objective of such a division is a more efficient legislative process, avoiding excessive detail at Level 1. New developments in financial markets should no longer necessitate politically demanding amendments of the framework legislation (codecision). Instead, more flexible amendments of Level 2 measures (comitology) should allow for speedy adaptations, if necessary. Achieving balance between Level 1 and Level 2 is vital for the flexibility and success of the process.” (9) What does “effectiveness” mean? Was the legislation effective during the hype in the securities market where many consumers lost significant assets? “Monitoring Group notes with interest that the transposition deficit with regard to due Lamfalussy directives has decreased by 41 % since these tables were first published on the internet in July 2005.“ (17) It is questionable whether such procedures which bind national legislators will create more trust in the European institutions. The process has not yet reached crucial points. Especially nobody has dared to integrate consumer credit regulation into this process. But it might come. ID: 37145 Autor(en): iff Erscheinungsdatum: 31.03.06     IIMG Report on Lamfalussy Process 2006 ( Bytes)

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Erzeugt: 03.04.06. Letzte Änderung: 17.04.06.
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