Brussels, 16/04/2013 (Agence Europe) - Despite what Germany argues, the European Commission says the fastest way of bringing banking union on stream is to do so using the existing EU treaty.
Expected in June when the draft legislation to harmonise national bank bailout and savings guarantee schemes has been adopted, draft legislation to introduce an independent EU bank resolution authority and an EU bank resolution authority will do so under the existing treaty, said EU Internal Market Commissioner Michel Barnier in a debate on the CRD IV legislation at the European Parliament (EP) on Tuesday 16 April.
The Ecofin Council in Dublin recently gave unanimous confirmation to an inter-institutional agreement to set up over the next twelve months a eurozone bank supervision mechanism under the aegis of the ECB (see EUROPE 10827). In a special statement, it said progress was needed as a matter of urgency towards banking union. In response to concerns raised by Germany, the member states say that they will respond constructively to any suggested changes to the EU treaty to ensure better separation of monetary policy and bank supervision at the ECB and to ensure fair treatment of non-euro countries.
On behalf of the EPP, Dutch MEP Corien Wortmann-Kool called on the European Commission to present a resolution in which the European institutions promise to finalise the bank resolution question by the end of the current European Parliament (which ends in the spring of 2014). (MB/transl.fl)