New European Union guidelines will be drafted to keep national market supervisors free of political interference when ruling on company mergers, the bloc's top financial regulator said on Friday.
EU Internal Market Commissioner Charlie McCreevy said national supervisors can no longer act on the basis of national reflexes and must take decisions in the broader public interest. McCreevy has clashed with Italy, Spain, Poland and Hungary over attempts to thwart take-overs in sensitive sectors such as banking and energy.
EU states have just toughened up the conditions which national banking supervisors can use to block a deal, but McCreevy signalled that more needs to be done. "I think there is a role for the Commission in clarifying what independence means and how it can best be achieved," McCreevy said in a speech prepared for delivery in South Africa.
"I intend to give this issue priority over the next few months and we will try and craft some fundamental principles which could form the basis for regulatory best practice in member states," McCreevy said. "Protectionism is for 20th century historians, not for 21st century regulators," McCreevy said.
Last month, he criticised French President Nicolas Sarkozy for insisting that a reference to unfettered competition be removed from the EU's stated aims in a new treaty.
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