Brussels, 04/12/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 3 December, the national ambassadors to the EU (Coreper) ended up not discussing the dossier of the contributions to the Single Resolution Fund (SRF) to be made by the banks of the eurozone countries from 2016.
The Italian Presidency of the Council of the EU hopes that the Ecofin Council of Tuesday 9 December will be able to reach a political agreement on these contributions, on the basis of its proposed compromise (EUROPE 11210). However, the emergence of two opposing sides during the technical negotiations will compromise the prospects of an agreement as suggested by Italy.
Under the initial versions of the methodology (proportion of covered deposits) currently being drawn up, France would have had to pay €18 billion into the SRF, which is aiming to achieve a target of €55 billion after a period of eight years of build-up. Berlin and Paris are reported to have agreed that the contributions of the banks established on their territory should be in the region of €15-16 billion. The correction mechanism suggested by the Commission and adopted by the Italian Presidency would have the effect of trimming €2 billion off the contributions of the French banking sector (EUROPE 11181). Now that the final figure has been announced, this rebate for France would have to be borne by the other eurozone countries. States such as Belgium, Malta and Cyprus have refused to allow their countries' banks to pick up the tab. “If banking union is what is wanted, there is a price to be paid”, one European source said. (MB)