We liberals believe that the current crisis can only be overcome by coordinated efforts on the international stage and by avoiding any kind of national protectionism.

From my German point of view I therefore advocate for a consistent EU-wide supervision of banks, which should be placed at the European Central Bank. Together with that, we need a clearly strengthened cooperation of the national bodies for financial supervision at a global scale. In the same line, the rules for banks on risk assessment, equity capitalisation and accounting need to be improved.

The liberal international approach should finally also include a strengthening of the International Monetary Fund and of the Bank for clearance/settlement.

To bring this down into legislation, the European Parliament has to take its responsibility to work out - together with the European Commission and the Council - the legislative proposals that make our financial market system more robust and prepared for crisis in the future.

Dr. Silvana Koch-Mehrin MEP is 1st Deputy-Leader of the liberal group in the European Parliament and FDP’s Head of List for the European Parliament elections

Tags: crisis, Economy

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