Wise men display caution

The EU “wise men” group, chaired by Alexandre Lamfalussy, a former Belgiam central banker, has called on EU member states to make regulation more responsive to the rapid pace of change in the financial services and capital markets but stopped short of advocating a European-style Securities and Exchange Commission. In a report released on 9 November, it complained that it takes three years on average to agree on new legislation.The report notes that the Takeover Directive, which was tabled eleven years ago, has still not been enacted. Even when EU legislation is agreed, the need to reach a consensus “leads sometimes to the adoption of ambiguous texts or texts with a level of harmonisation so minimal that no real integration is achieved.” Some areas are not regulated sufficiently at EU level, for example pension funds and there is no procedure in place for the timely revision of existing directives. In summary, the committee says that the present system is too slow and cumbersome, lacks certainty and places excessive reliance on national primary legislation when setting detailed rules. Since immediate action is needed it believes that an answer must be reached within the terms of the existing Treaty.