EU urges 'fair' US action in BNP Paribas case
(WASHINGTON) - The European Union wants the United States to be "fair" in its treatment of BNP Paribas over the French bank's alleged US sanctions violations, a senior EU official said Thursday.
The EU's internal market and services commissioner, Michel Barnier, said that Brussels was following developments in the US case against France's largest bank, which reportedly might have to pay at least $10 billion in fines to resolve the accusations.
"Given the importance of this case and the importance of this bank... we are closely following the situation and we simply wish that this affair be handled in a proportionate, fair and objective manner," Barnier said at a news conference in Washington.
The bank is accused of breaking sanctions against Iran, Sudan and Cuba between 2002 and 2009 by carrying out dollar transactions with them.
In addition to the huge fines, BNP Paribas may have to suspend dollar transactions in the US, according to US media.
Barnier, asked about the impact of a massive settlement on the European financial system, said he was unable to evaluate "potential effects" while the terms of any settlement were still unknown.
The case is a hot-button issue with the French government and President Francois Hollande has raised the matter several times with US President Barack Obama.
Obama, however, has made it clear he would not interfere in the judicial process because that would violate the independence of the US judiciary.
France has said that the possibility of what it sees as disproportionate penalties could hurt ongoing negotiations on a vast free-trade pact between the 28-member EU and the US.
Barnier said he hoped to convince the US to include financial services in the talks on the proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, which would create the world's largest free-trade and investment zone.
Financial services is among the many points of friction between the two economic powers.
"We don't agree with the Americans on this point," said Barnier, who met Thursday with the top US trade envoy, Michael Froman.
"What I'm asking isn't ideological," he said. "I say that if one wants to develop trade in the total economy, that occurs through the financial markets, including in agricultural and chemicals trade."
The US has balked at a harmonization of financial standards, worrying that it may have to modify financial regulation laboriously negotiated under the 2010 Dodd-Frank reform law.
Barnier sought to allay those concerns, saying "in no way" would negotiations weaken regulations on either side of the Atlantic. "It's a race to the top."
But a failure to reach an agreement on this issue would create "hurdles" in US-European economic relations, he warned.