first on the panel we have the honorable peter skinner, a member of the european parliament from the united kingdom and most recently re-elected -- congratulations, mr. skinner, look forward to your tenure. mr. skinner. >> thank you very much, chairman, congressmen and honorable members of the subcommittee inviting me here today. this is a special occasion for me if nothing else for the fact i have just been re-elected, but also to come here to know that i'm usually sitting your side of this table rather than here. it's a great honor to be here and i appreciate that. i'm peter skinner. i've been a member of the european parliament since 1994. this month i was elected for my fourth term. i'm a member of the economic and monetary affairs committee and directly involved in what's known as the transatlantic regulatory dialogue. i had a discussion between congressman berkeley. we talk regularly about issues like this. i was previously sponsor of the bill of reinsurance directive in 2005 and sovereigncy ii that will pass into law and pass into the countries by 2012. each country is moving t