Brussels, 08/10/2013 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday, the European Parliament will endorse the inter-institutional agreement negotiated directly with the European Central Bank on cooperation between the European Parliament and the ECB under the bank supervision mechanism (see EUROPE 10919).
The agreement states that if necessary, special confidential meetings can be held between the chair of the supervisory committee to be set up at the ECB and the chair and vice-chairs of the Parliament's economic and monetary affairs committees, but no other individuals, apart from possibly two other members of staff of the ECB and the Parliament's secretariat. At each meeting, the attendees will sign a formal promise not to reveal to any third party details about what was discussed. No minutes will be taken and the meetings will not be recorded in any way. Likewise, under the terms of the agreement, no statements will be made to the press.
The new European supervisory body will be able to attend normal public hearings at the Parliament and will give the relevant Parliament committee a full and understandable account of meetings of the supervisory committee in order to give an idea of the discussions, along with an annotated list of the decisions taken. Before the supervisory committee becomes fully operational in the autumn of 2014, the ECB will publish quarterly reports on how preparations are advancing and cooperation with competent authorities. Later on, it will publish an annual report on its prudential surveillance work and the separation of monetary policy from bank supervision.
Selection procedure. In order to take action in advance, the relevant Parliament committee will be advised in advance of the shortlist of candidates for the chair of the committee three weeks before the ECB publishes details of which person it selected and why. The ECB will hold a public hearing of the shortlisted candidates for the chair and vice-chair and the Parliament will decide on the appointments no later than six weeks after the ECB publishes details of who it has selected. The call for tender for applications closes on Monday 21 October, so the committee is likely to vote on the matter in December (see EUROPE 10932). (MB/transl.fl)