Brussels, 12/07/2013 (Agence Europe) - On Friday 12 July, the European Commission responded to the comparison made in Germany to the planned single bank resolution mechanism and the Nazi regime. The Wall Street Journal reports that Stephan Götzl, president of the Bavarian federation of cooperatives, has compared the Commission's plans with the 1933 enabling act that gave Hitler the right to introduce legislation without parliament's agreement.
On Wednesday, Internal Market Commissioner Michel Barnier unveiled proposals to give the Commission the right to trigger a bank restructuring within the banking union area in the future (see EUROPE 10885), which would apply to the 6,000 banks in the eurozone from 2015. The Commission points out that “the aim of its proposal is to protect the European taxpayer in case of bank failure. It respects the Treaty, the sovereignty and prerogatives of each member state. The Council of Ministers and the European Parliament are now going to debate the text as is their role”. A German government spokesman, Steffen Seibert, said on Wednesday that the Commission's plans exceeded its “authority” in Germany's opinion. On Friday, the French economy minster hailed the plans drawn up by Barnier as “ambitious” and promised to ensure the legislation was formally adopted before the end of the current European Commission and Parliament, in accordance with the timetable indicated by the European Summit in June. (EL/transl.fl)