Brussels, 23/09/2014 (Agence Europe) - The appointment of the British Conservative, Lord Jonathan Hill of Oareford, to the Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union portfolio, was the real wild card in the distribution of the portfolios under the next Commission.
Very few people predicted that it would be a Briton who would take over from France's Michel Barnier in an area which, for the first time, has been separated from the traditional Single Market portfolio. Was this a way of “compensating” the United Kingdom, which since 2009 has been challenging the EU's legitimacy to act on a legal framework for speculative funds, bring in a ban on short selling and cap bankers' bonuses? And which has, conversely, championed the option for the member states to go further than the provisions of the harmonised rules on banking capital requirements?
This appointment supports the notion that the future President of the European Commission, Christian Democrat Jean-Claude Juncker of Luxembourg, has chosen individuals from countries which have problems with the area in question. In a similar vein, France's Pierre Moscovici has been appointed to Economic Affairs, and the Hungarian Tibor Navracsis to Citizenship. This strategy “could be a brilliant move, or it could be a disaster”, said Sylvie Goulard (ALDE, France).
A number of MEPs remain incredulous. Sven Giegold (Greens/EFA, Germany) described giving financial services to Lord Hill as a bit like putting the fox in charge of the chicken coop. Giegold criticised the Briton's background as a lobbyist for the company Quiller Consultants, which advises financial players such as HSBC bank. His compatriot in the EPP group, Burkhard Balz, described the appointment of Lord Hill, who is the former Leader of theConservative Party in the House of Lords, as “problematic”. Over at the S&D group at the European Parliament, rather than attacking Lord Hill head-on over his nationality or political allegiance, assurances were sought that if confirmed as the future Commissioner, he will enforce the European rules throughout the EU, including at home in the United Kingdom. Italy's Gianni Pittella recently called for the future Commissioner for Financial Services explicitly to undertake to push through caps on bankers' bonuses throughout the EU.
When asked about the choice of individual to take over from him, Barnier called for Lord Hill to be judged on his actions. “I haven't forgotten the assumptions that were made about me because I was French. It wasn't 'fair' when it happened to me. It would be 'equally not fair for him' because he is English”, he said on Friday 12 September, on the sidelines of the informal Ecofin Council.
The hearing of the MEPs, which is scheduled for Wednesday 1 October, is expected to focus more on securing the British Conservative's willingness to work with the European Parliament and to continue the regulatory work than to test him on the extent of his knowledge of his dossiers. “Our responsibility will be to check competences and the existence of any conflicts of interest”, said Goulard, who stressed the need “not to judge on the basis of prejudice”, or of passports. Contrary to Giegold's assertions, she described Lord Hill, who is former adviser to ex-British Prime Minister John Major, as a “novice in this area”. “He knows nothing about financial services”, confirmed the parliamentary expert who was present at Lord Hill's courtesy visit to the coordinators of the political groups of the Economic and Monetary Affairs committee at the European Parliament last week. “He knows that he's coming in with a label”, he added, but firmly believes that Lord Hill “is not a monster who will be there to tear down” the financial regulatory architecture painstakingly built up on the basis of the G20 roadmap.
The promoter of banking union? It will be the responsibility of the future Financial Services Commissioner to facilitate the setting into place of the “supervision” and “resolution” planks of banking union, described by Barnier as the most important work in progress since the creation of the eurozone. It will be his job to prepare the initiatives needed to complete this union, in the field of deposit guarantees, for instance. Banking union, which is currently limited to the eurozone, is open to all countries of the EU, although the United Kingdom has already stated that it will not be joining. Symbolically, Lord Hill's appointment could therefore appear contradictory. But apparently the Europeans are no longer concerned by contradictions. Over the next five years, therefore, it will be the remit of a Pole to chair Eurozone summits and that of a Briton to promote the benefits of banking union in international fora. (MB)