Brussels, 03/12/2014 (Agence Europe) - The Italian Presidency of the Council of the EU hopes to be in a position to reach a political agreement in principle on the revision of the 'payment services' directive ahead of the Ecofin Council of Tuesday 9 December.
The legislative proposal on the table, which aims to adapt European legislation in line with the emergence of a single market for electronic payments, with the arrival of non-banking operators, is already the subject of a qualified majority at the Council. Initially included on the agenda of the meeting of the national ambassadors to the EU (Coreper), it has been postponed until the next meeting of Coreper, on Friday 5 December.
Only Luxembourg and Austria still have reservations. Luxembourg is opposed to the last draft compromise regarding the cross-border supervision of the payment institutions. The country argues that the suggested balance between the powers of the supervisors of the country of origin and of the host country would lead to “disproportionate obstacles for cross-border activities” and would “backtrack from the existing passporting regime”, according to an Italian Presidency note dated 1 December. Austria argues that account information service providers should be subjected to an authorisation procedure and not just a registration obligation. Most of the member states, on the other hand, take the view that the prudential rules in place for these providers are enough, as they do not manage the transactions as such and do not hold the funds of the payment services users.
A political agreement in principle on the proposed directive would pave the way for inter-institutional negotiations with the European Parliament, which adopted its position in February (EUROPE 11023). (MB)