The European Commission, European Parliament and European Council have reached compromise on new rules meant to govern credit ratings agencies, EU Internal Market Commissioner Michel Barnier said on Tuesday. “I welcome the important agreement reached today on additional rules for credit rating agencies which aim to reduce the over-reliance on ratings, eradicate conflicts of interest, and establish a civil liability regime,” Barnier said in statement. These agencies “will have to be more transparent when rating sovereign states,” Barnier added, as well as “respect timing rules on sovereign ratings and justify the timing of publication of unsolicited ratings of sovereign debt” in order to avoid destabilising financial markets.
