The Council of the European Union and the European Parliament have begun the preparations for the selection of the next Chair of the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) and of the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA), according to several documents consulted by EUROPE.
Having reached the maximum number of years allowed at the head of a European authority, Steven Maijoor and Gabriel Bernardino will leave on 30 March and 28 February 2021, respectively. In July, ESMA and EIOPA launched their internal selection process and are expected to submit shortlists of candidates by the end of November.
According to a note from the German EU Council Presidency dated 19 October, the EU Council is preparing to apply a new selection procedure. Since January 2020, the Board of Supervisors of each European authority must, with the help of the European Commission, draw up a shortlist of qualified candidates. The EU Council will then adopt, on the basis of this list, a decision appointing the President, after confirmation by the European Parliament.
Previously, the President was simply appointed by the Board of Supervisors, with the option for Parliament to object to the appointment of the selected person.
The German Presidency has asked the EU Council Legal Service to clarify certain aspects of the procedure. According to the note, the EU Council must adopt an implementing decision to appoint the new President by qualified majority. However, the new provisions are silent on how the EU Council must reach the formal stage of asking Parliament for confirmation before the formal appointment, it says.
For its part, the European Parliament is also laying groundwork. In a letter sent on 19 October to the current chairpersons of the two European authorities, the chair of Parliament’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON), Irene Tinagli (S&D, Italy), stressed that Parliament would like to receive “a gender-balanced shortlist of candidates for both positions well ahead of the final decision of the Board of Supervisors”.
Mrs Tinagli believes that the ECON Committee should have the option of organising informal hearings of all short-listed candidates - in addition to the formal hearing of the selected candidate - in order to ensure the independence of the candidates and to verify their qualifications. (Original version in French by Marion Fontana)