The European Commissioner for Financial Services, Mairead McGuinness, said on Tuesday 16 March that she was “confident” that the European Union and the United Kingdom would finalise “a cooperation framework” on financial services before the end of March, in accordance with the specific joint declaration attached to the bilateral cooperation agreement signed at the end of 2020 (see EUROPE 12632/9).
This agreement is intended to act as an informal mechanism for future negotiations in the event of regulatory disputes, along the lines of the one already in place with the US.
From January 2021, UK financial services providers have lost access to the EU internal market. Henceforth, the European Commission alone is entitled to unilaterally recommend equivalence of British and European legislation, a step that would allow the British to access a European market segment.
In a public statement to the Ecofin Council, McGuinness called for “a united front” among Member States on this issue and for them not “to lend space to any attempts to divide us”. This would create an opportunity for “regulatory arbitrage”, she commented. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)