Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

While I know Mr. Barnier, we have not as yet have had discussions with him. He has not as yet been appointed Commissioner. He has been nominated for the position and will not be in situ , probably, until February next year, when all the various hearings have been completed. I am sure he will be successful since he is a former Commissioner, as well as a former Minister for Agriculture in the French Government. Mr. Joaquin Almunia, who will continue in that role, has been a very competent person and Commissioner Charlie McCreevy, who was responsible for the Internal Market side of the equation, has done his job very well and capably. The issue of regulation in the aftermath of what has happened is not simply European in scope, but requires global synchronisation in order to have a broad regulatory framework under which everyone can operate. Obviously, financial services operate as a global market. It is anticipated that at the next European Council meeting on 10 and 11 December, there will be a discussion on financial services both generally and in respect of certain regulatory aspects of the financial service industry. While this will be dealt with in the first instance by ECOFIN, it also will be discussed by the Heads of State and Government at that Council meeting. I expect this to be the next occasion on which there will be a detailed discussion on this issue.

Certainly, the entire thrust has been to bring forward a regulatory regime which will be both more robust and ensure that financial services in Europe are competitive. In the past, it is clear the level of financial innovation was such that the regulatory regime did not keep pace with it and some of the unfortunate consequences that arise from that have become evident. While I do not know the context in which Mr. Went made his comments, it is important to find the balance between the need for adequate regulation that enables regulatory authorities to have the requisite information in sufficient time for them to do their job and the need to ensure the existence of a regulatory regime that is commensurate with the burdens that are being placed on other financial services industries in other countries and which is consistent with the need for a more prudential approach than was the case in the past, when the dangers of what has emerged subsequently had not been realised.

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