A clear majority for an equally clear position: The European Parliament today unanimously adopted its Report on Basel II and the revision of the Capital Requirements Directive. Parliament’s Rapporteur, EPP Group Vice-Chairman Othmar Karas MEP, succeeded in finding a broad consensus among all political groups: "We have now prepared a strong position for the European Parliament. This will be a clear guideline for the European Commission. We expect, by March 2011 at the latest, the Commission to come up with a balanced proposal for the Capital Requirements Directive along the lines of today’s Report. The European implementation of Basel III will be another important step on our way out of the crisis", says Karas.
Yet, in his view, the Basel III process is far from being finished. "Too many questions remain open. It is thus beyond comprehension how the nine EU Member States which are part of the Basel Committee can claim this process to be complete. The topic of leverage ratio and the role of the rating agencies are still not clarified. But most important of all remains the still-lacking definition of capital liquidity. We must remember that the financial and economic crisis was in its origins not a crisis of equity, but very much a liquidity crisis", underlined Karas.
In parallel to the parliamentary and legislative process due to start now, Karas calls for an intensive public debate on Basel III within the Member States. "It is up to the Finance and Economy Ministers of all EU Member States to lead and intensify the public debate. The legislative process is not over, it has indeed just started. The close involvement of national parliaments and the public is therefore very important", said Karas. "Basel III must and will come, but how this will be done is still under consideration", concluded the Austrian MEP.
