Karsten Friedrich Hoppenstedt, rapporteur. − (DE) Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, the lack of financial oversight operating uniformly throughout Europe and the failure of the system at international and European level are some of the reasons for the current financial and economic crisis. We must therefore ensure that information is integrated in the system in a coordinated manner and that the individual organisations exchange information so as to prevent another crisis.

The good public oversight operating in some Member States must be optimised for all 27 Member States to ensure the good transfer of information. This needs financial resources. We must resolve the crisis now and provide the resources now. This is exactly what the Community programme to support specific activities in the field of financial services, financial reporting and auditing achieves.

I welcome the fact that the Commission has responded to Parliament’s call for action and is proposing to provide financial support for the Community in the financial services sector and in the financial reporting and auditing areas as well as for the activities of certain European and international institutions in order to ensure that Community policies in this area are effective. A new Community programme will be brought out to enable direct contributions to be made to finance these individual institutions from the Community budget.

Cofinancing of this kind for the committees and the supervisory authorities can to a large degree help to ensure that they fulfil their mandates independently and efficiently. The programme must be flexibly designed and adequately funded to ensure that the requirements of at least the level 3 committees, including CESR, CEIOPS and CEBS, are covered. The Commission proposal was 40% below what the level 3 committees considered necessary for the next four years. There was little appetite in the Council for substantially increasing the budget even though it was clear that considerable improvement of financial market supervision was called for.

At the end of the negotiations we had agreed on a figure of approximately EUR 40 million over the four years: EUR 500 000 for the level 3 committees for 2009 and a further EUR 38.7 million from 2010 to 2013, 13.5 million of which are earmarked for these committees. As regards the financial reporting and auditing committees, the original Commission proposal for reform of this organisation was too weak. This means, therefore, that we, as Parliament, have been able to make improvements and, following the trialogue negotiations, we have achieved an acceptable result as far as the individual financial reference amounts and financing periods are concerned. The latest findings of the Larosière Group and of the report indicate that there are goods reasons why the Commission should present to Parliament and the Council no later than 1 July 2010 a report and the necessary legislative proposals for further reform of the regulation and oversight of the European financial markets to adapt this programme to the changes made.

Against the backdrop of the current financial crisis it would seem essential to give top priority to expanding convergence on oversight and cooperating in the area of financial services in connection with financial reporting and auditing.

In the plenary session on Solvency II 14 days ago I said that it was important that Europe sent clear signals that were heeded in the rest of the world. I believe that we have sent clear signals in recent weeks, including with the report by Mr Karas on the rating agencies, that we can be taken seriously by our international partners and that we are not just passengers, as we have been over the last few decades. This is a good signal.

I would like to thank my shadow rapporteurs, Mrs Bowles and Mrs Berès. As this is my last speech in this Parliament, I would also like to thank the Commission, my fellow Members and the Council for their cooperation. It has been a pleasure to work with you all. Let me give you an example of a pleasing result of this cooperation. The Czech Presidency of the Council decided 30 minutes ago to accept the outcome negotiated in the trialogue negotiations. We have a proposal that we can adopt today and I am certain that the large Groups in this Parliament will also vote in favour of these proposals.

Many thanks once again for your cooperation.