Banks should be ‘cleaned up once and for all’, EU Commissioner for Competition Neelie Kroes said today.
Speaking in Dublin, Ms Kroes urged political and business leaders to transform the business environment.
“We need to clean the banks up once and for all,” she said. “What’s more, business and political leaders need to step up. We need them to transform themselves to respond to the crisis. In order to restore confidence in the markets we need them to be rational and accountable and we need to create open, transparent and honest business environments."
Ms Kroes has been involved in approving state re recapitalisation of the banks in various member states.
The “State Aid” procedures of the Commission had to be quickly adapted to cope with state interventions to rescue banks and stave off panic in the markets.
On the current economic crisis, Ms Kroes said full economic recovery for Ireland depends on stimulating exports and foreign direct investment.
As 50 per cent of Irish exports are into the EU, which is a market of half a billion people, the future importance of the EU to the Irish economy should not be underestimated, she said.
Ms Kroes had a lunchtime meeting with Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan today and is due to meet Tánaiste Mary Coughlan later this evening. She will meet with the Competition Authority tomorrow.
Ms Kroes is shortly expected to make a detailed announcement on new EU proposals for the restructuring of the banking sector in the next few days.