EP vertraagt aanstelling directeuren financiële waakhonden (en)
EUOBSERVER i / BRUSSELS - MEPs in the European Parliament's economics committee on Tuesday (1 February) refused to rubber-stamp the hiring of candidates for the top jobs at the EU's new financial supervision agencies and demanded more guarantees from the European Commission over their independence.
"Unfortunately, the selection procedure has so far been below par and the European Parliament's economic and monetary affairs committee has raised alarm bells to this on various occasions," said the committee's chairwoman, Sharon Bowles.
A trio of candidates for the positions of the bloc's new new banking, insurance and market supervisory authorities headed to the chamber for confirmation hearings. The agencies were created to bring strict new regulatory oversight over sectors - and financial markets as a whole - whose alleged wild-west ways contributed to the ongoing economic crisis.
Gabriel Bernardino, a Portuguese regulator, had been picked to head up the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority; Andrea Enria, of Italy's central bank, had been the nominee for the chief of the European Banking Authority; and Steven Maijoor, a Dutch regulator, had been given the nod for chairman of the European Securities and Markets Authority.
But MEPs refused to give their assent.
The committee believes that the calendar for approval of the European supervisory authority chairmen was too brief for the parliament to give due scrutiny of the candidates.
MEPs also argued that the pay packages on the table are "uncompetitive", which has resulted in what they say is a limited number of applications, and no gender balance has been achieved.
They feel that the age limit placed on hires, 60 years old, is too restrictive.
According to a statement from the committee, the deputies "expressed fears that there may be no culture change between the old European supervisory structures and the new ones."
The Socialist group in the chamber argued for "a new culture of transparency", raising the question of lobbyist influence.
"The birth of these new authorities is a crucial opportunity to establish a new culture in European supervision," said British committee vice-chair Arlene McCarthy.
"It is critical that the authority makes public details of all meetings held between their staff and the industry, including who attended and what they are lobbying for."