European Parliament
Vittorio Prodi,
on behalf of the ALDE Group
. –
(IT)
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, we are really facing a situation of great importance for Europe: the Member States are still attached to the perception of a national dimension still viewed as predominant in all circumstances, while we are forgetting that a change of dimension has occurred and that we must move consciously towards a continental dimension, aware that we are moving in that direction and also knowing how to manage it.
That is why I fail to understand the problems being raised, for instance, in relation to bank mergers in Poland; in Italy, we accepted a takeover of
Banca Nazionale del Lavoro
for precisely that reason. I detect a conflict of interest behind these problems, because very often these are companies that are wholly-owned, or at least majority-owned by the State.
It is a conflict of interest between the immediate political interest and the long-term interest, not only of consumers, but also of the overall efficiency of the European system. This also happened in the case of
Enel
and
Suez
, where a serious conflict of interest emerged between the need to rationalise our companies in order to equip them to compete on a global level and the need to avoid them being embarrassed in the very short term.
I also ask that the competitive framework be organised; this is something we also discussed this morning with Commissioner Kroes, whom I thank for her readiness to act on energy competition. We need to create electricity networks, gas and electricity on a completely European level. This is our mission and I urge quick action to achieve it.

