McCreevy commission appointment criticised

INTERNAL market commissioner Charlie McCreevy has been harshly criticised by the leader of the Socialist group in the European Parliament.

The former finance minister has been appointed to a steering group within the commission to work on solutions to the financial crisis.

But Socialist leader Martin Schulz said that making Mr McCreevy part of the group was like allowing “the arsonists to take over the fire brigade”.

He described Mr McCreevy as an apologist for unrestrained market capitalism and also denounced the appointment to the group of competition commissioner Neelie Kroes, who he said had wanted to do away with publicly owned savings banks.

“We have had to listen for years to how the market would sort it all out and how one day we were all going to benefit from the market. Well, the house is on fire. We need the firefighters,” he said.

A spokesperson for Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso said that he had full confidence in the members of the taskforce: Mr McCreevy, Ms Kroes and economic commissioner Joaquin Almunia.

He added that Mr Barroso will chair the group and dismissed claims that Mr McCreevy was ill suited to the job because of his role in deregulating banking in Ireland or that Ms Kroes had a conflict of interest because of her previous involvement with the bank ABM Amro.

Mr McCreevy as iInternal market commissioner is playing a major role in the longer term objectives of regulating the European Union-wide insurance and banking sector through what is known as the Solvency II and the capital requirements directives.

He will also publish proposals on regulating credit rating agencies that have been fingered as one of the main culprits for the crisis and a review of executive pay following huge pay outs to the heads of failing banks.

However, getting EU member countries to agree to co-operate in areas like cross-border supervision of financial agencies is proving almost impossible.

At least half of the states are refusing to agree on having their national supervisors co-operate with those of other countries to monitor branches of banks and insurance companies.

Mr Barroso announced he is establishing a high level group to look specifically at how to get countries to agree on cross-border supervision.

He appointed Jacques de Laroisiere, former director of the IMF and president of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and a former governor of the Bank of France, to chair.

In the parliament, Mr Schulz welcomed measures announced by Mr Barroso to deal with the crisis, including the steering group, and help rebuild the economic system, but warned it must not be the same as the old system.