Mr President, it really does take a lot of self-restraint, following this overture by Mr Huhne and Commissioner Bolkestein, not to let a note of discord disturb their duet. It falls to me, in any case, to congratulate the rapporteur on his work, even if – as far as the outcome is concerned – I do not entirely share his opinion. The directive on prospectuses for securities forms, without any doubt, an important part of the financial services action plan. If they are to obtain finance on the capital market, businesses need these reliefs, which they had expected. As we are also dealing with this matter under some pressure of time, I would be the last to want this issue to go to a conciliation committee. We – that is, the Economic Affairs Committee – believe that conciliation under Italian aegis could not bring about any fundamental improvements to the status quo. It is still the case – and we are to vote on this as soon as tomorrow – that countries such as Italy, Spain, and France too, have certain reservations as regards points of detail in the European prospectus, about which you will hear more later. I believe that, yet again, the Council and the Commission, in discussions on what is a typical codecision issue, are showing themselves to take a less flexible approach to this elementary question of financial markets than this House might have been able to expect. Our approach and our thinking were in every respect guided by the practice of the market, so that, if I am able to recommend approval of this second-reading compromise, it is more on the basis of the general weighing of the interests involved. To be able to provide one single information document valid throughout the EU is, though, surely to the advantage of businesses that introduce shares, or make offers to buy, on European stock exchanges. It is obvious, though, that, in dealing with this matter, we have to consider the transparency of securities markets and, to an increasing extent, the protection of small investors and small and medium-sized enterprises. A procedure that is as simple and cheap as possible when it comes to the amount of an enterprise’s data that are required and the way in which they are to be updated, is meant to make for easier access to capital markets. That is what we need. To some extent – or almost exclusively – we have done justice to this, but our desire to extend, on the basis of liability, protection of small investors by defining responsibilities more clearly – with reference, for example, to analysts or chief accountants – has, unfortunately, met with rejection. Equally unfortunately, the issue of the venue of jurisdiction has found no clear resolution. Issuers were allowed to have recourse to the courts in their own countries, an advantage denied to investors. This may well continue to be a live issue. It is unfortunate that this immovability, which was not necessary in this case, has resulted in no further progress in the issues in the financial services sector that the public really care about. Nor were the prevailing customary practices on European markets followed when it came to convertible debentures. Had these been unambiguously defined, as had indeed been proposed, quality improvements would have followed, because, for example, the right to convert would have gone to the owner of the securities. This is also highly significant in terms of Basle II, as this type of financial instrument is likely to become more popular. It baffles me, Commissioner, how a minimum framework of information for regional and local authorities presenting prospectuses for loans in all the EU’s Member States, could come to be regarded as a hindrance rather than as a good thing. A measure of this sort would be of additional value in view of the EU’s enlargement. I regard that as regrettable, but at least other points were accepted, among them the choice of a minimum nominal value of EUR 1 000 or USD 1 000 – now determined by reference to the market – for all loans. The temporary solution of eight years – with the office authorising the prospectus allowing certain tasks to be delegated to the stock exchanges – is of no small significance to smaller financial markets and is a good way of dealing with this. Last but not least, we can go along with what has been negotiated. Congratulations to the rapporteur, and no clashing discords to the Commissioner.

Political group: PSE