Date: 2013-06-11
Mr President, thank you very much to all those who intervened in this debate. I think everybody agrees with the first point that Mr Sánchez Presedo made in his presentation of the report: in times of crisis competition policy is of the utmost importance in creating opportunities for new entrants, in supporting SMEs, in creating new areas of economic activity and in encouraging investments and innovation. This will give us a more competitive economy, improve our competitiveness and provide an excellent basis for more growth and more jobs. When talking about competition policy in times of crisis I also fully agree with Mr Sánchez Presedo and some of the other participants in the debate that it is important to have the right approach to the financial sector in this time of crisis. The financial sector is key for the recovery of our economy to finance the real economy. We know about the huge amounts of taxpayers' money which is being channelled to the banks that need public support. This is authorised according to state aid control decisions based on restructuring plans and commitments to put in place viable business models for our banks with adequate burden-sharing to avoid having taxpayers shoulder an excessive burden and to create the best conditions to preserve and protect competition in the banking sector. Some of you raised other issues. The last speech, by Mr Paška, referred to the level of banking fees. This is relevant in creating the conditions for restructuring banks to protect competition in a national market or in a global market at European level. In particular we have ongoing anti-trust cases with a view to placing, for instance, the fees that credit and debit card players charge the users of these payment instruments under the control of government competition policy. Many of you also referred to services of general economic interest. I would remind this Parliament that we have put in place a new framework for state control in these key aspects of our social market economy. Services of general economic interest should be efficient to provide the best services at the lowest possible cost to our citizens, but this sector also needs public financing. The question is how to establish an adequate level of public finance for these services and how they can create more opportunities and more competition without distorting competition. I think we are implementing the new framework successfully. Some of you mentioned some sectors of strategic importance from the competition policy enforcement viewpoint. I fully agree with those who mention the transport sector and energy sector. These are network industries which were former state monopolies and still have a strong market presence at the national, and sometimes cross-border, level. They require special attention and that is why some specific comments were made in the annual report concerning them. I am always ready to establish dialogue with any of you not just with the ECON committee, which is my main interlocutor, but also with other committees dealing with some of those sectors and to explain in more detail what we are doing in these areas. I would also like to specifically refer to the decision the College of Commissioners adopted today here in Strasbourg regarding public enforcement. We have adopted a proposal for a directive on the possibility to compensate the victims of competition infringements. As we know, all Member States have the option of taking individual actions. We have therefore established in this proposal, which will be discussed by you and by the Council, a common approach with a view to establishing a level playing field offering greater possibilities and opportunities for compensation to the victims of breaches of competition rules. We have also set out in this proposal principles and requirements that will need to be taken into account in the Member States that have legislation on collective redress. As you will remember, in the plenary session vote on the Lehne report, this Parliament asked the Commission not to legislate in particular, and to focus competition policy enforcement on collective actions. We have adopted today a recommendation setting out principles for collective redress not only in the cases of the private enforcement of competition rules but also for other kinds of collective action. For competition policy to be credible and with a view to achieving its objectives, both and private enforcement and public enforcement by the Commission and the other competition authorities is required. Private enforcement is extremely important, and collective action is a key issue. I hope that the recommendations we adopted today and national legislation sharing the same principles will contribute to the achievement of the desired results. Finally, thank you very much for the remarks regarding DG Competition's human resources and economic means. You are the budget authority together with the Council. You know what you are voting for when adopting the budget every year, when discussing the next multiannual financial framework. I can tell you that, if DG Competition were allocated greater human and economic resources, we could do more. We are also asking the Member States to do more with less money given the difficulties and constraints of fiscal consolidation. We are stepping up action to modernise state aid, we are increasing our action against cartels, we are increasing our action in terms of anti-trust and we are increasing our action in the control of mergers, but we can do more, and not only with our own efforts. I want to thank you for your efforts but also the staff working under my responsibility for their efforts. I also can tell you that if we had more resources we could even do more.