At the 18th Annual Conference on European Financial Services on Friday, 26 June. the German Secretary of State for Europe and Financial Markets, Jörg Kukies, outlined the priorities of the forthcoming German Presidency of the EU Council, which begins on 1 July.
With the Covid-19 crisis, the health of the financial markets will be a high priority, he assured. Initially, of course, all efforts will focus on reaching agreement on the multiannual financial framework 2021-2027 and on the recovery fund (see EUROPE 12494/1). The implications of Brexit on the financial markets will also occupy the Presidency.
But Berlin is not losing sight of other objectives either, such as the completion of the Capital Markets Union (CMU), which will be another major German priority. The subject will also be on the agenda of the first meeting, under the German Presidency, of the European Finance Ministers on 10 July, with a discussion on the final report of the High Level Forum on CMU (see EUROPE 12503/13), Mr Kukies said.
The report is “excellent”, he said, and also takes up several proposals already contained in the report of the high-level working group on “the next Capital Markets Union”, set up in 2019 by Germany, France and the Netherlands (see EUROPE 12345/12).
Jörg Kukies also stressed the complementary nature of the discussions on the Capital Markets Union and the Banking Union. “If one is lagging behind, the other will not be able to progress”, he said.
On the subject of money laundering, he supported the Commission's proposal to transform part of the provisions of the 5th Anti-Money Laundering Directive into provisions directly applicable by means of regulations. “We need a European supervisor”, he added.
Mr Kukies also mentioned payments and crypto-assets as areas where progress needs to be made at European level and which could be addressed under the German Presidency. (Original version in French by Marion Fontana)