Having been invited to a debate at the economic and financial affairs committee of the European Parliament on Wednesday 24 January, the Bulgarian finance minister, Vladislav Goranov, stressed that it was a priority of the Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of the European Union to make significant progress on finalising Banking Union in the Eurozone.
Welcoming the progress made at the Council under the Estonian Presidency, the President-in-exercise of the 'Ecofin' Council confirmed his ambition of securing a compromise between the finance ministers on reducing bank risks, on the basis of the European Commission's proposals of November 2016 (see EUROPE 11674).
Goranov also said that he hoped to make significant progress at technical level on the European deposit insurance system (EDIS), even though the finance ministers reiterated their differences of opinion on this point on Tuesday 23 January (see EUROPE 11945). A group of states led by Germany has taken a position in favour of securing clear results on reducing bank risks, in particular the stock of non-performing bank loans, before thinking about sharing them.
Finally, the Bulgarian minister hopes to continue the work on the Capital Markets Union, the definitive value-added tax (VAT) regime with regard to cross-border trade and the common consolidated corporate tax base (CCCTB) (see EUROPE 11933). (Original version in French by Lucas Tripoteau)