Posted on 07/07/2009 3:45:55 PM PDT by bruinbirdman
The European Union is considering a voting structure for its new apparatus of financial regulation that would make it almost impossible for Britain to block measures, even if they pose a major threat to the City of London.
EU leaders agreed in June to create three supra-national bodies with a full-time staff to oversee banking, insurance, and securities. These will have binding powers to impose rules for the first time, limiting the UK's Financial Services Authority to "day-to-day" management.
It had been assumed that the three bodies would take decisions be by qualified majority voting (QMV), the standard procedure for single market issues.
However, EU sources say the Commission is mulling a simple majority system, making it far harder for the UK to mount a "blocking minority" with like-minded allies. Malta or Slovenia would have the same voting weight on financial regulation as Britain, the world's banking capital.
Mark Hoban, Shadow City Minister, said the switch to binding powers changes the game profoundly for Britain's financial services industry, which generates 7pc to 8pc of GDP.
"The City is very seriously concerned about this. At least qualified majority voting provides a checking mechanism, since we can build support from the Nordics and countries in Eastern Europe. Any move to a simple majority must be stopped," he said.
"The Government took off its eye off the ball at the G20 summit. It needs to mount a rear-guard action to defend the interests of London," he said.
Brussels has seized on the credit crisis to launch a raft of far-reaching measures that bring Britain's services industry under EU control. The regulatory blitz overshadows the Treasury's White Paper on Wednesday, and may explain why the Government is delaying the full overhaul of the industry until after the next election.
The Commission is racing to
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Coming here soon.
Let's see. TARP enforces the party line through the banks, controls mortgages through Fannie and Freddie. TARP oversees the insurance industry through AIG.
Did the Obammunist appoint a securities commissar yet?
yitbos
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