THE CAPITALIZATION OF EUROPE
Who would expect innovative financial deregulation to emerge from
Europe's most notorious bureaucracy, the EEC Commission?
The corridors in the Berlayamont building, its Brussels
headquarters, are the cradle of a system notorious for procrastination,
compromise, and fudged opportunities. Yet from these corridors, in
early June, came a proposal which could have far-reaching effects for
the future of European economies.
The proposal was simple: why don't we scrap exchange controls
between the member states on dealing in unlisted securities and in new
share flotations? Article 67 of the Treaty of rome, the charter which
created the EEC, declares that there should be no obstructions to the
free flow of capital between the member countries, so the June proposal
is simply an extension of existing European law. Nor it is binding: the
proposals of the commission have to be ratified by the finance ministers
from each member nation before they are...
