Brussels, 18/09/2012 (Agence Europe) - France is optimistic about introduction of a eurozone bank supervisory system (see EUROPE 10690), despite Germany's reservations, explained government officials on Tuesday 18 September, according to AFP.
The European Commission recently suggested giving the European Central Bank (ECB) the power to monitor the 6,000 or so banks in the eurozone. Introduction of a common bank surveillance system was laid down as a precondition for the eurozone's new bailout fund, the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), to lend money directly to banks rather than the countries in which the banks have their headquarters. This measure is eagerly awaited by Spain because it fears seeing public debt soar under the weight of recapitalising its banks, but is criticised by other countries, particularly Germany.
Berlin does not want the common bank supervisory body to monitor all eurozone banks, saying it would not make sense to monitor the smallest banks centrally.
Circles close to the French prime minister, Jean-Marc Ayrault, who was in Brussels on Tuesday afternoon for a meeting with the president of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, for “general talks” said things were progressing quite well. The senior officials said that heads of state had made very clear commitments on this “rather complicated” matter. The same source said that the French request that the new system apply to all eurozone banks across the board was currently under negotiation, adding that it was not easy to draw up a list of too-big-to-fails. Ayrault's circles said they were generally optimistic about bank supervision.
The French prime minister will be discussing Barroso's recent statements with him that the EU was moving towards a federation of nation states. France is in favour of integrational solidarity and says it is open and aware of the fact that more solidarity in the eurozone calls for more integration. (LC/transl.fl)