Update on Sharon's work in the European Parliament (Gravesham and Dartford Liberal Democrats)

Gravesham and Dartford Liberal Democrats <membership@libdems.org.uk>

Update on Sharon's work in the European Parliament

October 25, 2008 12:00 AM
By Sharon Bowles MEP in Liberal Democrat South Central Regional Conference, 2008
Originally published by Sharon Bowles MEP

It was always going to be a busy period for the ECON committee, but with the current global financial turmoil having truly arrived in Europe, the importance of our work has never been more pressing.

One of the most noteworthy aspects of my work recently has been seeing the Lamfalussy report voted through. The basis to this surrounds the development of financial service industry regulations with a specific focus on the future supervision of banks. This has been an extremely difficult and tricky area of work in which we have clashed with socialists over the amount of regulation required.

The need to secure efficient pan-European banking regulation and supervision (the essence of the report) was made all the more apparent following the collapse of Icelandic banks two weeks ago. This brought home questions of compensation and where the responsibility lies.

These recent episodes demonstrate just how connected the banking sector is across Europe and the wider world; one bank falling in one country creates a domino effect as further collapse transcending borders. The work I have been doing addresses this very issue of cross-border banking to ensure that we have clear and responsible pan-European supervision.

I have also been working on two further reports; one on Private Equity and Hedge Funds and the second on Transparency of Institutional Investors. In simple terms, these reports are about finding practical and workable solutions in the Hedge Fund industry to areas such as remunerations and executive bonuses as well as finding ways to regulate credit rating agencies and ensure capital for Small and Medium size businesses.

Looking ahead this work is building up to the Capital Requirements Directive. This directive will assess key areas within the financial markets including the exposure of large banks, securitisation and derivatives. In November we will be addressing the issue of credit rating agencies.

I continue to receive a large and varied amount of constituency casework. The most frequent recently has been again, to do with the credit crunch. Constituents who have deposited their savings in offshore banks such as Landsbanki Guernsey (part of Landsbanki Iceland), and Kaupthing, Singer & Friedlander (Isle of Man) are facing uncertainty over savings after these banks were put into administration.

Overall however, casework continues to be most concerned with environmental issues. These include:

Carbon Capture & Storage

EU Emissions Trading Scheme

CO2 emissions from cars.

Deforestation

Biofuels

Copenhagen agenda (UN meeting in 2009 to agree on successor agreement to Kyoto)

'Permits to pollute'

Pesticide approval and use

The pesticide issue is a pressing one for the livelihoods of a number of small businesses in the region. There is a widespread worry among the horticultural sector that overhasty restrictions on pesticides may damage the health of the sector and have a bad effect upon yields and produce quality. Those producers which have written in have been at pains to make clear that they take pesticide safety seriously. However of course with the advent of new scientific evidence and new innovations some products will have to be taken off the market and replaced with safer ones.

Biofuels and the Copenhagen agenda have been the subject of mass emailing campaigns by Friends of the Earth and Christian Aid respectively, who have encouraged hundreds of constituents to write in.