WRITTEN QUESTION E-0750/04 by José García-Margallo y Marfil (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Possibility of registering rating agencies in Europe.
Date: 2004-03-11
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: consultancy, financial market, registration of a company, special-status institution, supervisory power

3.4.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 84 E/867

With respect to coordination between EIB and Structural and Cohesion Funds, a number of important
steps have already been taken to facilitate the joint programming of interventions (global commitments by
the European Investment Fund (EIF) in the framework of Community Support Frameworks; appropriate
modulation of intervention rate; advisory role of the EIF in developing financing mechanisms for small and
medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) at regional level). As regards collaboration between the Research and
Development Framework Programme and the EIB Group, the above-mentioned cooperation agreement
establishes a framework for joint work. Similar agreements are envisaged for other major policy areas,
notably those where EIB financing can provide a crucial complement to Community budget intervention.

Against that background the Commission does not consider the establishment of a special coordination
unit to be necessary.

(1) The EIB Group includes the EIB itself and the European Investment Fund (EIF).

(2004/C 84 E/0959)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0750/04

by José García-Margallo y Marfil (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(11 March 2004)

Subject: Possibility of registering rating agencies in Europe

In the framework of Parliament’s vote on the Katiforis report on rating agencies (A5-0040/2004 (cid:1) P5_TA-
PROV(2004)0080), what kind(s) of European registration scheme is the Commission planning to
investigate?

Answer given by Mr Bolkestein on behalf of the Commission

(13 April 2004)

With regard to the vote by Parliament on the report on rating agencies presented by Mr Katiforis,
Mr Margallo would like to know what kind(s) of European registration schemes the Commission is
planning to investigate.

The Commission would recall that, at the informal meeting of Economics and Finance Ministers in Oviedo
in April 2002, it gave an undertaking to examine the role and methods of rating agencies as part of a raft
of measures to be carried out in the wake of the Enron scandal.

At the same time, several initiatives were launched on the matter at international level. These include the
work undertaken by the Financial Stability Forum (FSF), the International Organisation of Securities
Commissions (IOSCO) and national regulators such as the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

Mr Katforis’ report makes an important contribution to the matter. In October 2003 the Commission
Directorate-General
for the Internal Market set up four professional expert groups with a view to
examining, among other things, the strategic priorities for the measures to be taken by the Commission in
the coming years. One of these groups will focus in particular on the securities sector. The Commission
will take into account the conclusions of these professional expert groups, which will be published by the
end of April 2004, and open for public consultation from May to July 2004. A high-level conference will
take place on 22/23 June 2004. Only after an analysis of the results of the public consultations and the
conclusions of the high-level conference will the Commission adopt an official position on the subject of
rating agencies in general and on the issue of their registration in Europe in particular.