Pervenche Berès

Pervenche Berès (born 10 March 1957, Paris) is a French socialist MEP (since 1994) and chair of the Europen Parliament's Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs. She is also a member of the Conference of Committee Chairmen, and a substitute member of the Committee on Legal Affairs, as well as the Delegation for relations with the People's Republic of China.

Graduated from Paris Institute of Political Studies in 1978, she had administrative positions at the National Assembly. From 1988 to 1992, she worked as an adviser to Laurent Fabius, President of the National Assembly. She also was the Chairwoman of the French Socialist delegation in the European Parliament from 1997 to 2004.

Background

The main job of the European Parliament’s powerful Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, chaired by Berès, is the “regulation and supervision of financial services”. Such is the importance of this position that in 2007 Berès was named one of the 100 most powerful women in the European financial world by Dow Jones’ Financial News, and in 2008 she was in Accountancy Age’s 2008 Top 50 Power List.

At the same time as being an influential committee Chair at the Parliament, Berès is a member of the European Parliamentary Financial Services Forum, whose official remit is to “promote integration of a single European market for financial services across national borders”.

The European Parliamentary Financial Services Forum (EPFSF) includes both MEPs and industry representatives. Joint industry/ Parliamentary organisations like EPFSF have come under increased political scrutiny in recent years because“these groups are not bound by any parliamentary ethics and transparency rules. [They] are de facto lobbying vehicles for corporate interests aiming to influence EU decision-making in their favour”.

So at the same time as being Chair of the most influential financial Committee in Parliament which regulates financial services, Berès is also a member of the lobbying vehicle for the financial services industry which seeks to influence that regulation, including by lobbying her own Committee.

Register of Interests

• Member, European Parliamentary Financial Services Forum (EPFSF) - Platform to discuss Europe's financial issues and bring them to European Parliament

Conflicts of Interest

There could be a potential conflict of interest between these two positions. This is especially so as Berès has also acted as committee Rapporteur on reports which affect the financial services industry. This throws up obvious dilemmas.

For example, one of the corporate members of EPFSF is Michaela Koller of the European Insurance and Reinsurance Federation (CEA). CEA would have an interest in Berès’s report on the “proposal to amend Directive 92/49/EEC on the coordination of laws, regulations and administrative provisions relating to direct insurance other than life assurance, as regards the implementing powers conferred on the Commission”. Did Koller’s membership of EPFSF, for example, give her undue access to Berès?

When asked about her role on EPFSF, Berès responds “I'm not an active member of the EPFSF's board and therefore don't have a direct influence on its agenda and regulations. The door to my office is always open to anybody wanting to express his/her concerns. I believe that in the European legislative procedure, the consultation dimension is very important.”

She continues: “However, I deeply regret that the voice of consumers and the small ones is often too weak to be heard… I believe that listening to ‘lobbies’ doesn't prevent me from working in the interest of my voters and the general interest. My line of conduct has always been that everybody deserves to be listened to.”

EPFSF: a vehicle for lobbying?

The European Parliamentary Financial Services Forum’s steering committee is made up of MEPs, while its corporate membership is made up of Europe’s financial muscle including Barclays, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan, Lloyds TSB, Merrill Lynch and UBS. The Chair of the financial industry members is the European Banking Federation, the “voice of the European banking sector.”

Until early 2008, the secretariat of the EPFSF was run by John Houston, of Houston Consulting Europe, one of the leading financial PR and lobbying consultancies in Brussels. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal in 2005, Houston admitted that several of his financial clients were also members of EPFSF. The newspaper accused EPFSF members of watering down the EU’s “Third Money Laundering Directive”.

When the decision was made in late 2007 to move the secretariat from lobbyists Houston Consulting, it was the European Banking Federation, the lobbying organisation of the European banking industry that advertised the vacancy.

Resources

• Berès, Pervenche, Report on the proposal for a directive of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Directive 2004/39/EC relating to markets in financial instruments as regards the implementing powers conferred on the Commission, Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, 07 November 2007, accessed 11 November 2008.
• EPFSF Website, EPFSF Statutes, Articles Of Association Of The European Parliamentary Financial Services Forum Association, accessed 11 November 2008.
• EPFSF website, Financial Industry Members, accessed 11 November 2008.
• EU Business website, accessed 11 November 2008.
• European Banking Federation website, Mission Statement, accessed 11 November 2008.
• European Parliament website, MEP Directory: Pervenche Berès, accessed 11 November 2008.
• Financial News Online, 100 Most Influential Women in Finance, 2007, accessed 11 November 2008.
• Rowell, Andy, Too Close for Comfort? Spinwatch, July 2008.
• Web Archive, European Parliamentary Financial Services, accessed 11 November 2008.