Brussels, 30/09/2013 (Agence Europe) - In Luxembourg on Thursday 10 October, the inter-institutional political agreement on legislation to introduce a bank supervision system (SSM) in the eurozone under the aegis of the European Central Bank (ECB) is expected to be adopted by the Transport Council.
The two regulations were voted through by the European Parliament in mid-September and would normally have been endorsed by the member states last week, but a parliamentary reservation lodged by the United Kingdom made it impossible to complete the final stage in the legislative process. Any delays at this stage postpone the date of entry for the SSM, which is set at one year after all the necessary legislation has been formally introduced. The end of October 2014 now looks the likely time when the new regulatory system will be up and running.
On Friday, the ECB launched the recruitment process for the chair of the bank supervisory committee of representatives of national bank supervisory bodies, to be set up at the ECB in order to hive off monetary policy from supervision of the eurozone's 130 biggest banks.
France has made no secret of the fact that it has a woman candidate for the job in Danièle Nouy, a high-ranking official at Banque de France (see EUROPE 10770). Some see her as a trade-off for the fact that a Dutch national backed by Germany, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, was appointed as the chair of Eurogroup. At the end of 2012, the European Parliament lost the battle to have a woman on the ECB Executive Board, and pressure from the Parliament may act in Nouy's favour. Internal Market Commissioner Michel Barnier said there were competent, independent and European women around who could hold leading positions in Banking Union (see EUROPE 10930).
The ECB's call for candidates will run until Monday 21 October. The Parliament's economic and monetary affairs committee will give its opinion on the shortlist of candidates for the supervisory committee's chair and vice-chair (see EUROPE 10927). (MB/transl.fl)