European Parliament votes on ECON report on current accounting standard-setting

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07 Jun 2016

In its plenary sessions currently held in Strasbourg, the European Parliament has discussed and voted on the report on the activities of the IFRS Foundation, EFRAG and the PIOB that the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) of the European Parliament (EP) has initiated.

The report is not legally binding but is now an EP resolution and will serve as guidance and reference in future EU law-making processes.

The presentation and discussion took place yesterday. There is a video recording of the discussion available (link to EP website, 17 minutes, free choice of language). During the discussion, the only contributions of note were the introduction by the ECON rapporteur (Theodor Stolojan) introducing the report and the response by the representative of the European Commission (Christos Stylianidis). The other contributors merely repeated known sentiments or did not speak to the topic.

In his response, Commissioner Stylianidis, who spoke on behalf of Commissioner Jonathan Hill, pointed at the Commission's own evaluation that had led to an overall positive assessment of the situation, welcomed the intended formation of an EP permanent IFRS team, and mentioned the EC comment letter to the IFRS Foundation (link to IASB website) on their review of the structure and effectiveness of the IFRS Foundation, which had already picked up on many of the items presented in the report. Mr Stylianidis noted that the Commission has concluded that currently there is no need for legislative changes, however, better cooperation, coordination and communication between all parties involved would be beneficial.

In today's vote (by roll call), the European Parliament carried the resolution.

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