Introduction of the euro: impact on capital markets

In adopting the report by Mr Ingo FRIEDRICH (PPE, D), the European Parliament expressed the opinion that the introduction of the euro would be an excellent opportunity for pushing ahead with harmonization on the capital markets, thereby moving one stage closer to completion of the Internal Market. While market harmonization must be left to the markets themselves, the Union had a duty to remove the legal and fiscal barriers and to create a framework for reducing distortion of competition. The required measures ranged from harmonization of company law to harmonization of accounting rules and stock exchange regulations, as well as including the adoption, as a matter of urgency, of a statute for European companies. Parliament called on the Commission to: - submit, as soon as possible, a list of the harmonization measures it considered to be needed; - study the USA's experience as the principal world market for such capital, with the aim of drawing conclusions for the harmonization of markets in the internal market. Parliament considered that national provisions, some of which were inflexible and compelled pension funds to undertake most of their investment in their country of establishment, should be reviewed with the aim of facilitating investment throughout the euro zone. �