Dexia deputy – my report won’t be biased

By Anna McLauchlin

Date: 26/01/06

The French conservative MEP Jean-Paul Gauzes has been appointed to draft the European Parliament's position on a law setting out credit and debit payment rules throughout the EU, despite the fact that he is the tax and legal advisor for the subsidiary of a French bank.

Gauzes has been entirely open about his activities at Dexia Credit Local, a subsidiary of Franco-Belgian retail bank Dexia that lends money to local governments.

He said that he was confident that there was no conflict of interest with his position at Dexia. "I have no direct financial interest that could affect my position and I don't believe I will be under any more pressure from the banking sector than anyone else," he explained.

"My job at Dexia will help me from a technical point of view."

Gauzès said that he was "thrilled" to have won the dossier over other prominent conservatives on the Parliament's economic and monetary affairs committee such as Pia-Noora Kauppi and Alexander Radwan.

Eric Wesselius from the European Corporate Observatory, campaigning for more transparency in EU lobbying, said: "Clearly there is a risk at least of creating the perception of having a conflict of interest."

German Liberal Wolf Klinz said that he "would not a priori have a huge problem" with Gauzes' appointment, but that it "might require some questioning".

Both Gauzes and Klinz said that it was difficult to appoint MEPs to very technical dossiers. Gauzes highlighted the recent plenary vote on the Basel II risk capital laws for banks.

"Only about eight MEPs of the 732 actually understood that file," he said.

One consumer lobbyist, resigned to the appointment, said: "He will have all the right connections, of course, but the rapporteur on the communication that preceded this law had nothing to do with banking - but the amendments he made might as well have come from a banker."

Gauzes will draft the Parliament's view on the New Legal Framework for payments, which will lay out the legal requirements, consumer protection and liability rules for money lenders in the EU.

Banks have already voiced their concern that non-bank providers will be subject to the same legal rules as banks but not the same risk rules.

"It is possible that a person who uses the services of a non-banking operator could be taking a bigger risk than someone who uses a banking service, but this is something that we need to look at in detail," Gauzes said.

"The main priorities are twofold: firstly the technical requirement for payments, and secondly that it doesn't result in a cost burden that is too high for the consumer."

Article reports that the French conservative MEP Jean-Paul Gauzes was appointed to draft the European Parliament's position on a law setting out credit and debit payment rules throughout the EU, despite the fact that he was the tax and legal advisor for the subsidiary of a French bank.