Today the EP approved with a large majority the establishment of an EU financial supervision. Guy Verhofstadt said: "I am very satisfied that today this long battle has ended with a happy ending. It is worth recalling that it was ALDE that first called for the need for pan-European supervision. When the member-states destroyed the proposals of the Commission by reinstalling the primacy of the national authorities, ALDE created a coalition in the EP to reverse again that decision of the Council. The reason for our fight was clear: national authorities could not and still cannot provide the answers to the economic and financial crisis which is genuine pan-European financial supervision."

"Today we have given birth to the new EU supervisory authorities as the starting point for effective EU financial supervision. This is just a first step, but it will not prevent a future crisis if we do not respect the spirit of the proposals. The real work starts now as all forthcoming legislation such as the proposed regulation on derivatives markets and short-selling must concentrate on the cross-border dimension of financial markets and infuse trust to the new supervisory authorities." said ALDE MEP Sylvie Goulard (MoDem, France), EP rapporteur on the establishment of the ESRB and macro-prudential oversight.

Sharon Bowles (Liberal Democrats, UK), Chair of the Parliament's Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee said: "What we really need are authorities with fingers in all of the pies, and eyes in the backs of their heads. They must become the link between different financial sectors across the EU, looking out for problems when they are developing, and considering knock-on effects when they take decisions."

Ramon Tremosa (CiU, Catalonia, Spain) EP rapporteur on the specific tasks of the ECB with respect to monitoring financial stability said "Parliament won the argument that the ECB President must also head the ESRB which will give greater credibility to the new bodies. With this reform, Mr Trichet is accountable also in financial stability in his hearings in the EP. He will risk his reputation and his credibility in achieving an effective financial stability in Europe"

Note to editors:
On September 2nd, the coordinators of the ALDE (Sylvie Goulard), EPP, S&D and Greens jointly stated: "The agreement on the financial supervision package reached between Council and EP foresees that through future legislation, additional supervisory powers shall be conferred on the ESAs. The coordinators of the main political groups of the EP insist that the authorities shall exert appropriate supervisory powers over entities with EU wide reach. This shall include market infrastructures, such as trade depositories and central counter parties. In the common market shared European infrastructures have to be subject to European supervision".

For more information, please contact:

Neil Corlett: +33-3-88 17 41 67 or +32-478-78 22 84
e-mail: neil.corlett@europarl.europa.eu
Federica Terzi: +33-3-88 17 35 53 or +32-494 18 88 31