Parliament's economic and monetary affairs (ECON) committee has two key roles, Markus Ferber tells the Parliament Magazine: "drafting sound legislation on the one hand, and taking its supervisory role seriously on the other".
The German MEP, who is a vice chair of the ECON committee, stresses that the "second part will be of quite some importance this year as there will be a lot of level two legislation to be dealt with". "In this process," he says, "the European supervisory agencies, ESMA, EBA and EIOPA, as well as the commission will play an important role in the drafting process. It will be one of ECON's main tasks to scrutinise all level two measures carefully and make sure that those agencies do not overstep the line." Ferber adds that, "Unfortunately, the commission in particular sometimes forgets about this concept, but ECON rarely fails to remind of it. The second issue related to supervision is to make sure that the European central bank (ECB) fulfils its new supervisory role in the framework of the banking union properly."
"The financial crisis has severely damaged the trust many people have in financial markets. This sentiment is not entirely unjustified as we had some severe regulatory deficits allowing for excesses that have caused quite some trouble"
Ferber, who was rapporteur on the financial supervision: markets in financial instruments directive, says, "One of the most controversial files will certainly be the structural reform of the EU banking sector. This file will deal with the question on how to separate the retail business of a bank from the more risky investment banking part." Ferber also underlines that the issue of "shadow banking still needs to be resolved". "In the last term," he says, "we did not manage the money market funds file, which is an important part of what we call the shadow banking sector. So, this will be something that comes up early in the term. The same is true for the benchmarks file which is supposed to draw regulatory conclusions of the Libor/Euribor manipulations."
For Ferber a key issue that must be tackled is the large-scale disillusionment with the financial sector. "The financial crisis has severely damaged the trust many people have in financial markets. This sentiment is not entirely unjustified as we had some severe regulatory deficits allowing for excesses that have caused quite some trouble." He insists, however, "that financial markets have the capacity to serve the real economy and the people. This is why we need to restore trust in financial markets and the only way to do so is by introducing sound legislation. Our main goal while doing so should be to strengthen investor protection and to make financial markets in Europe more transparent, more efficient and more resilient. That is what I aim for with my work in the ECON committee."
"I expect all the new commissioners, as well as the member states and organisations the ECON committee is supervising, to cooperate in good faith"
Regarding the new commission, Ferber says its restructuring with a regular commissioner overseen by vice-presidents who operate in a coordinating role is "certainly a little bit of an experiment". "It will be interesting to see how this new structure will influence the work of the commission and who is eventually in charge of the strategic decisions."
The EPP deputy had a few words of warning for the incoming Juncker commission, saying, "On a more general level, I expect all the new commissioners, as well as the member states and organisations the ECON committee is supervising, to cooperate in good faith. Too often we have seen the commission delivering necessary information which follows the principle of 'too little, too late'. This I do not deem to be acceptable. I expect and demand that ECON is taken seriously by all parties involved. In terms of disclosure, this means providing the committee with all necessary information in a comprehensive and timely manner. As long as this is guaranteed, ECON will be a cooperative and productive partner for the new Juncker commission, the ECB, the supervised agencies and member states alike.
Markus Ferber is a vice-chair of parliament's economic and monetary affairs committee