The European Parliament’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) is not expected to be able to formalise a position on the ‘EDIS’ proposal aiming to establish a European bank deposit guarantee scheme – the third pillar of the banking union in the euro area – before the European elections.
Due to a lack of any real political will, the issue remains at a standstill in both the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union. In the European Parliament, Esther de Lange (EPP, Dutch) has been the rapporteur on this issue since 2016, having been reappointed in 2019. Her draft report has been held in abeyance since November 2016 (see EUROPE 11664/13).
According to our information, the Dutch Christian Democrat has tried to revive the issue these last few weeks in order for MEPs to leave a position for their successors. But without success.
An MEP told EUROPE on Tuesday, 13 February, “It has been shelved because Ms de Lange, who is leaving the European Parliament to join European Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra’s cabinet, was unable to produce her report under an expedited procedure, which would already have been the result of a compromise among the groups, due to lack of time” and because the subject is too divisive to be dealt with so quickly.
With Ms de Lange’s departure, another rapporteur from the EPP group is expected to be appointed – in all likelihood, a German.
During the Council meeting held in June 2022, the Eurogroup had not managed to settle on a work programme that would enable all aspects of the banking union to be finalised by 2030 (see EUROPE 12942/21 and 12974/10). It had limited itself to advocating the ‘CMDI’ legislative initiative aiming to strengthen the European framework for bank crisis management with a view to its being adopted before the European elections (see EUROPE 13300/5 and 13266/17). This will not be the case: the ECON Committee is expected to adopt its position at the end of February or the beginning of March while work continues in the Council of the EU.
It should be noted that some of the amendments submitted by the Greens/EFA and S&D groups on the ‘CMDI’ proposal nevertheless aim to pave the way for the ‘EDIS’ to be created. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)