The European Parliament has decided to set up a 45-member special committee of MEPs on the financial crisis.
The committee, to be headed by German Liberal MEP Wolf Klinz, is non-legislative in nature and will particularly focus on establishing a roadmap for the future and discussing possible new structures for financial markets and its participants. The new committee will also evaluate the application of relevant EU legislation and the coordination of action by EU member states.
According to the brief given by the European Parliament plenary session last week, the new committee will have to develop policy recommendations in all relevant areas to prevent future crises and will conduct an in-depth analysis and evaluate the recent crisis and its impact on the EU and its member states. It will also outline the action necessary to rebuild sound and sustainable financial markets, supporting growth and employment and preventing the socialisation of losses in the future.
European Parliament sources said that the committee members are expected to issue recommendations on the crisis in two reports - one to be released halfway through its 12-month mandate, and the other at the end.
The committee will also give opinions on relevant legislation being debated in the standing committees, particularly in the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee known as ECON.
Despite the fact that many of the members elected to the new committee hail from the original ECON committee, Malta is not represented as none of its MEPs were elected to the new set-up. Labour MEP Prof. Edward Scicluna, who is one of four vice-chairmen of the ECON committee, was not included in the new financial crisis committee.
On the other hand, German chairman Wolf Klinz will be joined by several of his colleagues in the economic and monetary affairs committee, including committee chair Sharon Bowles. The line-up also includes former ECON chair Pervenche Berè, the rapporteur on the directive on alternative investment fund managers, Jean-Paul Gauzès and staunch conservatives such as Kay Swinburne, a notorious opponent of over-regulation.
Commenting on the setting up of this new committee, the President of the European Parliament Jerzy Buzek said that Europe should learn the lessons from the economic and financial crisis so as to ensure that it is not repeated.
"MEPs must assess the effectiveness of measures taken by the EU and member states to alleviate the financial crisis. This new European Parliament committee will serve as an important forum for this," he said.