19/01/2021 (Agence Europe) – At its plenary session on Tuesday 19 January, the European Parliament confirmed by 592 votes in favour, 3 against and 98 abstentions the agreement reached at the end of November with the EU Council on the legislative proposal to ensure that the discontinuation of a widely used financial benchmark index does not undermine the EU’s financial stability (see EUROPE 12535/14). The agreement empowers the European Commission to designate a replacement benchmark for so-called “critically important” reference benchmarks and other benchmarks, including those of non-Member States, the discontinuation of which could affect the stability of EU financial markets (see EUROPE 12612/8). In the short term, the text aims to prepare the EU, from the end of 2021, for the disappearance of LIBOR (‘London Interbank Offered Rate’), an interbank benchmark rate on the London Stock Exchange that serves as the indexation basis for thousands of financial contracts. (MF)