In the financial field, the Commission's working programme for 2018 will unsurprisingly focus on completion of the Capital Markets Union (EMU) and of Banking Union, Jean-Claude Juncker announced on Wednesday 13 September. A key measure will be the creation of a single European capital markets supervisor.
Over the next 16 months, the Commission is to present “concrete steps” towards the creation of a single European Capital Markets Supervisor, in order to remedy fragmentation in the application of European financial markets law, which is currently monitored by national authorities.
Other measures to be anticipated include several announced in June of this year in the framework of the mid-term revision of the Commission's action plan on the CMU (see EUROPE 11804): - the revision and reinforcement of the missions, governance and financing of the European financial supervisory authorities; - a revised framework for corporate investments; - action plan on sustainable finance; - a European bonds framework.
The Luxembourger also called for the co-legislators to rapidly adopt several proposals already on the table, including the pan-European Pension Product (see EUROPE 11819), proposed amendments to the European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR), including the politically sensitive proposal for a new supervisory mechanism for central counterparties located outside the EU (see EUROPE 11807) and the tightening-up of the ECB's legal competence in the settlement of financial securities (see EUROPE 11815).
As regards Banking Union, President Juncker hopes for a swift finalisation of the legislative package to reduce bank risks (see EUROPE 11674) and of the European deposit insurance scheme (EDIS), on which the work appears to have reached deadlock.
Finally, Juncker called for the enlargement of Banking Union, which is currently made up only of Eurozone member states, but is also open to the others. In his State of the Union speech, he stressed that if we want banks to be subject to the same rules and supervision throughout our continent, all member states must be encouraged to join the banking union. (Original version in French by Marion Fontana)