Colourful eurocrat has his sights set on transparency

For those who think of European commissioners as grey career bureaucrats who like nothing better than woolly position papers with impenetrable jargon, Mr Frits Bolkestein could come as a bit of a shock.

It's not usual for a European commissioner to blame the collapse of a US energy company on "hanky-panky" or to admit candidly that, on an important issue, he is "up to my neck in problems".

But then, the 69-year-old commissioner responsible for the internal market and part-time chairman of the Amsterdam Bach Soloists is no ordinary eurocrat. He bursts with a vitality alien to many of his colleagues and not dimmed by the magnitude of his tasks.

Among other things, he is charged with transforming the maze of rules and regulations in the 15 European Union states into a genuine Europe-wide market for financial services within three years.

Colleagues and experts disagree on whether Mr Bolkestein is a breath of fresh air in Brussels politics or a maverick who shoots from the hip on important subjects. But nobody questions his ability to surprise with his direct manner and unconventional turn of phrase.

The commissioner's main concern at present seems to be the fallout from the collapse of Enron, the US energy trading giant.

"If you look at the various scandals in the financial field, it seems they have occurred more in the US than in Europe, or am I being rude saying that?" he asked, sitting in his spacious office in the heart of Brussels' EU area.

Mr Bolkestein is convinced that Enron's collapse should lead to wholesale changes in the US financial system. "I have asked accountants: 'was it just hanky-panky or did the particular nature of US GAAP [generally accepted accounting principles\] enter into the whole game?'" he said. "The answer is yes, it had something to do with the rules of US GAAP."

In particular, Mr Bolkestein dislikes what he calls "the cookery-book approach" of the US system, which contains detailed prescriptions on what auditors should look at. This has prompted Mr Bolkestein to renew his fight to promote international accounting standards (IAS) - the main rival to US GAAP - which is based on a less prescriptive and more flexible approach.

The Commission has succeeded in approving rules requiring all companies to use IAS from 2005, but the US authorities have refused to recognise accounts prepared in IAS, forcing European companies listed in New York to file in US GAAP.

Mr Bolkestein is going to the US in May to tell the authorities, including Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chairman Mr Harvey Pitt, that the time had come to move to IAS.

"Having rules is a good thing, but having rigid rules is perhaps not the best thing. You must give an accountant a certain latitude to use his judgment," he said. "It's not merely a question of ticking boxes."

Mr Bolkestein's concerns on accountancy are not limited to US GAAP. "I am not very comfortable with the fact there are only five big accounting firms in the world," he said.

Although he admitted he has not spoken about this issue with European Competition Commissioner Mr Mario Monti, who has the power to investigate potential cartels, he points out that "collusion among five is easier than collusion among 25".

Mr Bolkestein's thoughts are not monopolised by accountancy. While in the US, he is going to urge the SEC to lift the restrictions that make it difficult for European stock exchanges to set up trading screens in the US.

"The transatlantic community should become one big financial market. They trade here, we want to trade there."

But his day job is to get 15 often foot-dragging states to break internal barriers to a single financial market for Europe. As shown by last year's fiasco on a European takeover code - Mr Bolkestein's proposal that was sunk by the European Parliament after fierce lobbying from German companies and the Berlin government - it will not be easy to make the 2005 deadline.

Mr Bolkestein admits the process is slower than the Commission would like but he denies that the Brussels authorities are running out of puff in their quest to disband national vested interests.

"I have got enough puff to spare. But it's like swimming in treacle," he said. - (Financial Times Service)