The German Presidency of the Council of the EU and the European Commission expressed confidence on Tuesday 1 December, during the videoconference of the Economic and Financial Affairs Council, that the interinstitutional negotiations on the package of measures presented in July to promote economic recovery post-Covid-19 (see EUROPE 12535/11) will be finalised this month.
In a progress report on the legislative work, EU Financial Services Commissioner Mairead McGuinness said agreement on adjustments to the EU framework to facilitate the use of securitisation could be reached at the second ‘trilogue’ on Tuesday evening. According to her, there are indeed “only a very limited number of outstanding issues, mainly of a technical nature”.
The Commission’s proposal to create an abbreviated “EU Recovery Prospectus” was also the subject of a first ‘trilogue’ on 26 November. According to the Commissioner, the proximity of the positions of Parliament and the EU Council should facilitate the conclusion of an agreement quickly.
Nevertheless, some differences of opinion persist, including on a possible ceiling to limit the use of the “EU Recovery Prospectus”, on the time limit for new measures on the “supplement“ that must be published in addition to the prospectus, as well as on the EU Council’s proposal to postpone for one year the requirement for certain European companies to publish their annual financial report in the single European electronic format (see EUROPE 12584/12), she said.
With regard to adjustments to the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II) regarding disclosure requirements, product governance, and position limits, the ‘trilogues’ will start on 3 December.
The Commission’s proposal to relaunch emerging euro-denominated energy markets by relaxing the position limit regime for these derivatives contracts was debated in Parliament (see EUROPE 12608/9), but was ultimately upheld, Mrs McGuinness said, again expressing optimism that an agreement on the issue would be reached in December. (Original version in French by Marion Fontana)