MEP Pedro Silva Pereira (S&D, Portuguese) presented his proposal for a report on the European Single Access Point (ESAP) to the European Parliament’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs on Tuesday 25 October. He proposed some changes, particularly with regard to the timetable for implementation.
As part of the Capital Markets Union (CMU) package, ESAP will be an easy and centralized point of access for information on EU companies and financial products. It brings together data on financial services, capital markets and sustainability. “ESAP will improve the accessibility and availability of business data at EU level” said Silva Pereira.
He proposes to extend the timetable by one year compared to the Commission’s original proposal (see EUROPE 12840/6), thus better respecting the EU Council’s approach (see EUROPE 12982/18). The rapporteur aims to be “ambitious”, with implementation in three phases. The first would start in 2025 and would cover environmental, social and governance criteria. Dimitrios Papadimoulis (The Left, Greek), on the other hand, would like to reduce the level of ambition, believing that the EU Council’s deadline is too long.
Mr Silva Pereira proposes to retain the Commission’s scope, which covers “a wide range”, as opposed to the more restrictive EU Council proposal. “ESAP covers 37 legislative acts, but does not create new disclosure proposals”, Silva Pereira insisted. “This is good news for businesses, especially SMEs”, he added.
In response to concerns about administrative overload raised by Frances Fitzgerald (EPP, Irish), Billy Kelleher (Renew Europe, Irish) and Johan Nissinen (ECR, Swedish), Mr Silva Pereira argued that entities are already required to make public the information that will be disclosed in ESAP, in accordance with EU regulations (see EUROPE 12984/4).
Regarding the governance structure, it is envisaged that the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) will be responsible for establishing and operating the platform. Mr Silva Pereira believes that there is a need for “a stronger governance framework”, including channels for direct stakeholder input. He proposes to create another expert constituency where relevant stakeholders can support the establishment of the ESAP.
As for funding, the initial proposal provides for an allocation of ESMA’s funding resources, a proposal that Mr Silva Pereira finds “reasonable”. However, he said he was “aware of the concerns about these costs for national collecting bodies”. He accepts the exceptional provision allowing ESMA to charge fees to market participants who search frequently or download large volumes of information. He made it clear that these charges would be exceptional and would not affect, for example, academics and other users.
To read Mr Silva Pereira’s report proposals: https://aeur.eu/f/3sf : https://aeur.eu/f/3sg : https://aeur.eu/f/3sh (Original version in French by Anne Damiani)