On Thursday 30 June MEPs in the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs discussed the legislative proposal to set up an EU single window for access to data, the European Single Access Point (ESAP) (see EUROPE 12840/6, 12836/6).
The aim of the ESAP is to centralise all regulatory information on activities and products that financial actors must provide to supervisors.
For Pedro Silva Pereira (S&D, Portugal), a European Parliament rapporteur, this initiative comes “at just the right time, when the European Union needs more and greener investments”. He was keen to hear the views of his colleagues before writing his draft report.
Frances Fitzgerald (EPP, Ireland) called the ESAP “very good news for innovation in Europe and for supporting new initiatives and investments”.
However, Mr Silva Pereira identified some shortcomings in the European Commission’s initial proposal. Although he welcomed the broad scope and the fact that the text does not create new reporting obligations, the MEP wanted to establish principles to ensure “true comparability and reliability of information”.
Gilles Boyer (Renew Europe, France), speaking on behalf of Billy Kelleher (Renew Europe, Ireland), stressed the need for the data reported to be “relevant and simplified”. “Too much information can also be a barrier”, he added.
According to Mr Silva Pereira, the timetable proposed by the Commission, which plans for the ESAP to be established and operational by the end of 2024, is not ambitious enough. The window should be operational “as soon as possible”, with priority given to all environmental, social and governance data, he said.
Ms Fitzgerald expressed the hope that the ESAP would be operational by 2025-2026.
On the subject of financing, the initial proposal suggests that the single window should be financed 40% by the EU budget and 60% by contributions from the Member States through the competent national authorities.
While Ms Fitzgerald welcomed the idea of granting free access to users, Mr Silvia Pereira was of the view that users should contribute.
Rather than the ESAP being managed by the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) in cooperation with the competent national authorities, Mr Silva Pereira said that “a strong governance framework with channels for direct stakeholder input would be more appropriate”.
Ms Fitzgerald emphasised the technological challenges related to the ESAP. “We need to rely on the best IT skills, as the proposal is to build a new system from scratch”, she said.
At the end of June, the Council of the EU adopted its negotiating position with the European Parliament (see EUROPE 12982/18). (Original version in French by Anne Damiani)