On Wednesday 11 July, the committee on economic and monetary affairs of the European Parliament adopted by a large majority (46 votes to four, with two abstentions) the draft own-initiative report by Brian Hayes (EPP, Ireland) on relations between the EU and third countries concerning the rules and supervision of financial services (see EUROPE 12008).
The text calls upon the Commission to adopt a “structured, horizontal and practical framework” for the consistent application of procedures to determine the equivalence of third countries' financial legislation with that of the EU. Compared to the initial text, the notion of horizontal legislative act has therefore been abandoned.
Readers may recall that the vote had been postponed due to major disagreements between political groups (see EUROPE 12044). One of the principal stumbling blocks concerned the in-depth control by Parliament proposed by the rapporteur (see EUROPE 12030).
The S&D and ECR groups rejected the idea that the equivalence decisions be made by the Commission using delegated acts rather than implementing acts, whilst the EPP, ALDE, Greens/EFA and GUE/NGL groups supported this proposal, arguing that the political nature of these decisions justified Parliament's involvement.
The latter position ended up winning the day: the final text recognises that equivalence evaluations are “technical in nature”, but that equivalence decisions have a clear political dimension which justifies the use of delegated acts.
The same logic of transparency also concerns decisions to withdraw equivalence, over which the MEPs ask to be consulted, in principle, before the decision is made.
The Commission is moreover called upon to assess the advantages of introducing a standardised equivalence application procedure for third countries.
When presenting the report in committee, all highlighted the link between this dossier and the scheduled withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the EU, which will become a third country once again from the end of March 2019.
A new recital has been added to the text stressing that “in the absence of a transition period, the Commission and the ESAs must be prepared to protect financial stability, the integrity of the internal market and the autonomy of decision-making in the EU”.
The tax must now be approved by the Parliament at its September plenary. (Original version in French by Marion Fontana)