EU court for European banks

Brussels - The European Commission is taking both the European Central Bank and the European Investment Bank to the European …

Brussels - The European Commission is taking both the European Central Bank and the European Investment Bank to the European Court of Justice in an attempt to get both institutions to accept oversight by the EU's anti-fraud unit, OLAF, Patrick Smyth reports.

Both banks insist that the move infringes their treaty-guaranteed independence and refuse to recognise the legal competence of the organisation to carry out internal investigations despite requests from the Commission, the Cologne summit of EU leaders, and EU Finance Ministers to comply.