EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT'S PETITION COMMITTEE SEEKING ANSWERS OVER 'LLOYDS' NAMES' PETITIONERS - WALLIS

6.13.29pm BST (GMT +0100) Tue 21st Jun 2005

The Chairman of the European Parliament's Petitions Committee, Marcin Libicki, will be questioning the European Commission tomorrow evening (Wednesday) on the First Non-Life Insurance Directive which aims to regulate and ensure the proper functioning of the insurance sector, including such issues as solvency requirements.

British Liberal Democrat Diana Wallis MEP, a member of the Petitions Committee, said:

"There have been a number of petitions from 'Lloyds' Names' to the Committee and we first raised some concerns when we approved the Perry Report on the Lloyd's Names Petitioners in September 2003."

"We were concerned about the extent to which this First Non-Life Insurance Directive had been correctly transposed and effectively implemented and applied by the UK between 1978 and 2001 and about the extent to which the Commission had fulfilled its own responsibilities under Article 211 of the EC Treaty."

"It is only reasonable that this is raised in a formal question to the Commission by the Committee Chair tomorrow, particularly as to why we haven't received an answer to our questions from 2003. I suspect that the Commission knows that the answer will embarrass the UK Government."

Full text of question:

Is the European Commission fully satisfied that the activities of Lloyd's of London were properly and effectively regulated during this period? If not, will it now submit to Parliament the specific response in writing, which is still outstanding, to the precise questions raised in the Perry Report, as requested by Parliament in September 2003?