EP adopts Labour MEP's report

A report drawn up by Labour MEP Joseph Muscat on mergers in the banking and financial services sector and their implications for the consumer was adopted during the plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg yesterday.

The report, already discussed during a session of the economic and financial affairs committee, stated that while there are many positive effects emanating from mergers, this process should lead to more competition and not to the formation of new monopolies.

Addressing the plenary session before the vote, Mr Muscat said workers cannot always be forced to foot the bill for such purely economic and financial decisions and appealed for workers' representatives to be regularly and fully consulted before and during such decisions.

The Labour MEP said that the effects of such consolidations should also benefit consumers through access to better products, more efficient services and more competitive prices.

In his report Mr Muscat also called on corporations not to view the economy of countries, especially the developing ones and those in transition, as just cash cows.

"Corporations are duty-bound to invest seriously in these countries by creating new and better employment opportunities, and by providing access to better quality services," Mr Muscat told his colleagues.

Describing SMEs as the backbone of European economies, Mr Muscat said that banks need to cater more for the specific needs of these companies in order to guarantee that these keep developing and expanding.

Throughout the debate representatives of the main political groups expressed their agreement with the majority of the points raised by Mr Muscat in his report which also included a proposal for an independent expert group to present alternative proposals on the banking supervisory structures.