Banking Union Package

Banking Union Package

Key points:

 

The EESC

  • considers the package of measures set out in the Commission's Roadmap towards Banking Union, and in the two legislative acts presented at the same time to be appropriate;
  • supports the call for the measures to be adopted before the end of 2012 and to be drawn up with careful attention to the effects on banking and national economies;
  • specifically, urges rapid agreement on the entry into force of the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM). The basic initial objective is to save the euro while minimising the costs for taxpayers of possible restructuring measures or closures, by ensuring that sufficient funds are in place in advance and that the costs of resolution are borne by shareholders and creditors;
  • supports the ECB taking on responsibility for supervising all banks in the banking union, however small;
  • welcomes the fact that the ECB will from the beginning have a supervisory board to avoid potential conflicts of interest with its monetary functions;
  • advocates a stronger role for the European Systemic Risk Board (ESRB) and the ECB as part of a more integrated financial system, and urges the Commission to provide more practical details on how the national authorities and the ECB are to interact;
  • welcomes the idea of promoting the involvement of non-euro area countries using the "opt-in" clause, with the same rights as euro area countries;
  • considers close connections between the European Banking Authority (EBA) and the ECB to be crucial;
  • where decision-making is concerned, further analysis and consideration is needed to balance the internal market banking interests of Member States not belonging to the SSM, while avoiding the risk of Eurozone integration being paralysed by minority blocking votes. It is important to avoid a two-tier market in financial services;
  • considers that the Commission should draw up a green or white paper on how to finance the banking union in a harmonised manner so it will be in a position to decide on the taxes or levies on financial and banking transactions.