Brussels, 04/12/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 8 December, the Ecofin Council will discuss the introduction of Banking Union in the eurozone and tackling the financing of terrorism.
Meeting informally beforehand, finance ministers will adopt a statement on bridge financing for the single resolution fund (SRF) (see EUROPE 11428). The decision will allow the SRF, which will have the job of financing the resolution of failed big banks, to have €55 billion during the build-up phase from 2016 to 2023. The bridge financing will be based on national, non-pooled, credit lines that can be honoured in a number of subdivisions as long as a substantial proportion, perhaps 50%, is paid up in the first call for funding by the single resolution board (SRB) that is to manage the SRF.
The ministers will discuss member states' transposition of European rules on the resolution and restructuring of banks (the BRRD directive) and national deposit savings guarantee schemes. Some countries, Germany for instance, are insisting on this issue before work begins on the third arm of Banking Union, the establishment of a European bank deposit guarantee system. The Commission will present its recent proposal in this connection, which might generate the first batch of reactions on Tuesday (see EUROPE 11437).
The Ecofin Council will validate the political agreement reached at technical level by the member states on the legislative package to breathe new life into the securitisation markets by laying down criteria for identifying simple, transparent and standardised securitised products (see EUROPE 11445).
Financing of terrorism. Upon the request of France, ministers will discuss measures to boost the fight against the financing of terrorism. Paris wants to see speedier application of the fourth money-laundering and terror financing directive (849/2015), planned for 2017 (see EUROPE 11436). At the end of November, European interior ministers asked the Commission to unveil proposals to improve skills and cooperation among financial intelligence units; enhance the control of payments made outside the banking system (electronic and anonymous payments, fund transfers and cash deliveries, virtual currencies, the sale of precious metal and the use of prepaid cards) depending on the level of inherent risk.
In the economic and budgetary domain, ministers will adopt a common position on interpretation of flexibility under the Stability and Growth Pact to promote structural reform and investment, based on the European Commission's communication of January 2015 (see EUROPE 11229). They will also discuss the European Semester for 2016 following the presentation by the Commission of its Annual Growth Survey (see EUROPE 11439). (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)