Addressing the members of the committee on economic and monetary affairs (ECON) on Tuesday 20 June, the European Commissioner for Financial Services, Valdis Dombrovskis, presented the progress made in the fields of Banking Union and the Capital Markets Union (CMU).
The time has now come to end the work we have started, to complete Banking Union and the Capital Markets Union, he said, stressing that the Commission hoped for the support of the Parliament for future initiatives in this field.
Having reminded his audience of the new priority actions laid down in the mid-term revision of the CMU (see EUROPE 11804) and referring to the Brexit talks, which started the day before, Dombrovskis said that current challenges “require us to shift up a gear”.
With the exception of Belgium's Gerolf Annemans (ENF), who expressed his bewilderment at the reasons prompting the Commission to speed up rather than take its time over completing the CMU on the basis of progress in the Brexit talks, the MEPs broadly welcomed this mid-term revision.
The MEPs' questions referred mainly to the Commission's recent proposal on reinforcing the supervision of central counterparties (CCP) located outside the EU, which provides, under certain conditions, for the Commission to be able to decide that a CCP must relocate its services to the EU in order to be able to operate in the single market (see EUROPE 11807).
Responding to concerns voiced by the vice-chair of the ECON committee, Kay Swinburne (ECR, UK), on the priority the proposal seems to give to national central banks, Dombrovskis explained that the proposal was calibrated so as to ensure financial stability whilst minimising the impact on businesses.
In response to criticism from certain MEPs, such as David Coburn (EFDD, UK), who felt that the proposal brought in monetary nationalism rather than leaving the choice up to consumers, Dombrovskis explained that relocation was a last resort in the event that the supervisory system could not guarantee the necessary safeguards. He stressed that it would not be happening automatically.
He also referred to progress in Banking Union and, more specifically, on the political agreement reached by the finance ministers at the 'Ecofin' Council of 16 June, on two legislative proposals in the field of banking (see EUROPE 11810), which, he explained, will allow a move to a pan-European system.
On this subject, Dimitrios Papadimoulis (GUE/NGL, Greece) called for clarifications as to the timetable for the finalisation of Banking Union, the third pillar of which, the creation of the European deposit insurance scheme (EDIS), seems to be stagnating. “This dossier is in the hands of the co-legislators and it is they who must move this dossier forward. However, we are completely at their disposal to facilitate the work”, Dombrovskis replied.
Lastly, referring to the finalisation of the international rules on reinforcing bank capital requirements (Basel III), currently being negotiated at the Basel Committee (see EUROPE 11810), the Commissioner took pains to reassure the MEPs, stating that the future agreement would have to respect a certain sensitivity to risks and the diversity of European models. (Original version in French by Marion Fontana)