Brussels, 09/12/2013 (Agence Europe) - Several eurozone finance ministers hope that agreement in principle will be reached at the Ecofin Council on Tuesday on the draft regulation to introduce a single resolution mechanism (SRM) for winding up collapsed banks (see EUROPE 10979).
Arriving at a meeting of finance ministers from the eurozone, the head of the Eurogroup, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, said he was slightly optimistic about a deal being reached. Spanish Economy Minister Luis de Guindos hoped the ministers would be able to agree on this important phase of banking union. Commenting on the sheer intensity of work involved, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble would not comment on whether a further meeting of ministers would be needed, but said agreement would be reached before Christmas. Less optimistic, Ireland's Michael Noonan said there were big disagreements that could force the ministers to meet up again at the end of next week for further talks.
Following a mini-summit of finance ministers in Berlin in Friday, the French and German ministers, along with the European Commission and the European Central Bank, are reported by French newspaper Le Monde to have met on Monday 9 December on the fringes of the Eurogroup meeting.
The main points of disagreement include the European institution which will be responsible for formalising the decisions taken by the future single resolution board. On Monday, Schäuble said that a solution was in sight on this point, but the question of “conflicts of interest” within the European Commission needed to be settled, thus hinting that the Commission might get the job. The draft compromises on the SRM say there will be a Chinese wall to hermetically hive off bank resolution and respect of state aid rules applicable to a bank resolution.
Along with governance at the resolution board, the ministers will discuss the scope of application for the SRM and the single resolution fund (possibly a fund with national compartments), the creation of a backstop for the fund and the date when bank bail-ins would be introduced. (MB/transl.fl)