2013-09-13
Vitas Vasiliauskas: Europe needs more efficient rules for the regulation of the financial system
Today in Vilnius the informal European Union (EU) Economic and Financial Affairs (ECOFIN) Council’s meeting has begun, where ministers of finance and twenty eight governors from the central banks of the EU Member States will discuss the status of EU finances and the prospects of economic development, as well as the problems and ways of promoting small and medium-sized enterprise crediting.
“The crisis revealed gaps in the regulation of finances and the banking system. In order to fix the gaps both reliably and permanently, we need not only more, but definitely better rules,” said Vitas Vasiliauskas, Chairman of the Board of the Bank of Lithuania, before the ECOFIN Council’s meeting began.
According to V. Vasiliauskas, today in Europe such a set of financial supervisory and regulatory instruments is necessary, which would not only strengthen the financial system, but encourage financing of the economy, especially small and medium-sized businesses.
“One of the biggest challenges for the EU is the prolonged fragmentation of the financial system, which is adversely affecting economic development. Only by removing its cause will we be able to restore the normal functioning of the financial market and stimulate economic recovery. We believe that this is one of the most important goals of the Lithuanian Presidency of the Council of the EU, so in the meeting that will take place today and continue tomorrow we will pay particular attention to the issue of the banking union and financing of small and medium-sized enterprises,” commented the Chairman of the Board of the Bank of Lithuania.
The goal of the ECOFIN Council’s informal meeting is to agree on the ways to promote financing of small and medium-sized enterprises. “The growth of the EU economy and job creation are necessary stable sources of financing for small and medium-sized enterprises. We will discuss the proposals of experts in regards to ways of encouraging the financing of enterprises, using the opportunities provided by EU structural funds, the European Investment Bank and European Investment Fund,” said V. Vasiliauskas.
According to him, the issues on the development of the banking union will be discussed in more detail tomorrow, on the second day of the ECOFIN meeting.
At the informal ECOFIN Council meetings Ministers of Finance from all of the EU countries, governors of the central banks and representatives of the most important EU institutions meet semi-annually in the country holding EU presidency. Such an ECOFIN Council has been organised in Vilnius for the first time.