Brussels, 10/02/2014 (Agence Europe) - Despite the insistent request of the European Parliament, the European finance ministers will not meet before Tuesday 18 February to discuss the single banking resolution mechanism (SRM) currently going through inter-institutional negotiation.
“I understand that there will be no Ecofin Council” before the one to be held next week, said a European diplomat. He added that the Greek Presidency is to make concrete proposals ahead of a meeting of national experts which will be held on Wednesday, in the hope of achieving a modified negotiation mandate to be granted on Thursday by the national ambassadors to the EU (Coreper). This will allow Athens to show that the message sent out by the European Parliament has been heard loud and clear. At the same time, bilateral discussions are being held at the highest level in places other than Brussels.
In an e-mail to Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras on Saturday (see Twitter @AgencEurope), Martin Schulz expressed the grave concerns of the assembly of which he is the President on the “lack of progress in the negotiations with the Council because of the absence of a mandate enabling the Presidency to negotiate on matters considered by Parliament as essential objectives: a swift and efficient decision-making process, an equal treatment of the banks irrespective of the member state in which they are established and the protection of taxpayers' money through the application of the bail-in tool and, where needed, the use of a single resolution fund funded by banks on a risk-profile basis”. The EP reiterates its willingness to reach an agreement “ahead of the elections”, a timetable which would require a definitive political agreement with the Council “by mid-March”.
On Friday of last week, the inter-governmental conference tackled the inter-governmental agreement on which the single resolution mechanism SRM will be partly based, with a view to presenting a draft text to the next meeting of the Eurogroup, to be held on Monday 17 February on the eve of the forthcoming Ecofin Council. The stumbling blocks to an agreement include the “cascade” of interventions (national segment, pooled funds plank, loans between national segments, borrowing funds from the market) to finance the resolution of a defaulting banks. The aim is to arrive at a final text by Tuesday 25 February. (MB/transl.fl)