Alfred Sant jivvota favur it-tisħiħ tas-superviżjoni kontra l-ħasil tal-flus

Il-votazzjoni saret waqt sessjoni plenarja fil-Parlament Ewropew li ddiskutiet l-Unjoni Bankarja fl-UE, it-trasferiment tar-responsabbiltà għall-politika bankarja mil-livell nazzjonali għall-livell Ewropew fl-Istati Membri, mibdija fl-2012 b’ risposta għall-kriżi taż-żona tal-Ewro.

Permezz ta’ votazzjoni fuq ir-rapport annwali tal-Unjoni Bankarja għall-2019, il-Parlament Ewropew qed jindirizza l-isfidi tal-Unjoni Bankarja: it-tlestija tagħha, BREXIT kif ukoll kwistjonijiet ta’ superviżjoni, fost oħrajn.

Kif ġie rikonoxxut ta’ spiss, unjoni ekonomika u monetarja dejjem aktar konverġenti u stabbli teħtieġ Unjoni Bankarja soda. Minkejja progress lejn politika bankarja waħda fiż-żona tal-ewro, il-proġett tal-Unjoni Bankarja waqaf għal bosta snin.

“Għadu kmieni biex ngħid, iżda l-kriżi pandemika attwali tista’ tenfasizza r-riskji li ġġib magħha t-tlestija tagħha u d-differenzi fir-reġimi madwar l-UE jistgħu joħolqu vulnerabilitajiet sinifikanti”, qal Alfred Sant.

Ir-rapport jindirizza wkoll kwistjonijiet fondi tal-konsumaturi. Iċ-ċittadini tal-UE huma kkonfrontati minn użanzi kummerċjali inġusti u l-interessi ta’ gruppi vulnerabbli huma spiss injorati. Il-pandemija COVID-19 tista’ tiggrava tali aspetti bit-tnaqqis tas-servizzi bankarji lil klijenti żgħar.

Alfred Sant votes in favour of strengthening anti-money laundering supervision to tackle cross-border illegal activity

In an explanation of vote, Alfred Sant stressed that the prerogatives of such an agency would need to be implemented in the same way everywhere, with equivalent approaches for all credit institutions across Member States. Only a truly impartial EU body could preserve the integrity of the EU financial system.

The vote was held during a plenary session in the European Parliament that discussed Banking Union in the EU, the transfer of responsibility for banking policy from the national to the EU level in Member States, initiated in 2012 as a response to the Eurozone crisis.

Through a vote on the Banking Union annual report for 2019, the European Parliament is addressing the challenges of the Banking Union: its completion, BREXIT as well as supervision issues, among others.

As is frequently acknowledged, an increasingly convergent and stable economic and monetary Union requires a solid Banking Union. Despite progress towards a single banking policy in the euro area, the Banking Union project has stagnated for years.

“It is still early to say, but the current pandemic crisis might highlight the risks posed by its incompletion and the differences in regimes across the EU could create significant vulnerabilities”, stated Alfred Sant.

The report also addresses deep running consumer issues. EU citizens are confronted by obscure and unfair commercial practices and the interests of vulnerable groups are frequently ignored. The COVID-19 pandemic could exacerbate such aspects with the reduction of banking services to small clients.