Members of the European Parliament's Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) approved by a large majority on Monday, 1 April, the provisional interinstitutional agreement reached at the end of March (see EUROPE 12219/6) on the reform of the European financial supervision architecture (see EUROPE 11864/1).
They approved the main proposal amending the founding regulations of the three European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) by 28 votes to 1 with 4 abstentions. The proposals amending the MiFIR Regulation, the MiFID Directive and the Solvency II Directive as well as the proposal on the European Systemic Risk Board (ESRB) both received 28 voices in favour and 5 against.
Before the vote, ECON Committee Chairman Roberto Gualtieri (S&D, Italy) said that the timely conclusion of negotiations with the EU Council was almost a "miracle”.
Negotiations between the co-legislators have indeed been difficult and the final agreement is far from the European Commission's initial ambition, particularly in regard to the direct supervisory powers of the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA).
Regarding governance, which has been the main stumbling block between the co-legislators (EUROPE 12213/23), the agreement generally maintains the status quo, but strengthens the powers of the ESA President.
On the Council of the EU side, the Member States' ambassadors to the EU (Coreper) also validated the provisional agreement on the same day. They were initially scheduled to vote on 27 March, but the item had been removed from the agenda for “practical reasons” to prepare the text, according to a diplomatic source. (Original version in French by Marion Fontana)