Completing the Banking Union (communication)

EESC opinion: Completing the Banking Union (communication)

Key points:

The EESC

  • welcomes the new set of measures proposed by the European Commission to complete the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) and move towards an optimal monetary zone;
  • supports the various proposed goals for reinforcing the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM) and the Single Resolution Mechanism (SRM);
  • welcomes that the present communication provides scope for a broader discussion and for a phased approach to implementing the European Deposit Insurance Scheme (EDIS) and underlines the importance not to lose momentum in implementing the Banking Union;
  • supports the decision to provide only liquidity coverage in the first phase, increasing over the years;
  • underlines that the national deposit guarantee schemes that are responsible for covering losses should still be given full attention and supports the right of national DGSs to run alternative measures, without being contrary to competition rules;
  • highlights that the transition towards loss coverage in the second phase is not automatic and calls for a formal decision to be founded on the broadest possible basis to make the proposal more concrete so that a swift progress can be made, together with all stakeholders;
  • underlines the importance of the immediate operability of the European Monetary Fund, in its function as a firewall for the SRM as a lender of last resort;
  • emphasises that the improvement and consolidation of the pillars of the Banking Union and the application of the Single Rulebook must go hand-in-hand with implementation by the financial industry of the SDG 2030 and the Paris commitments on climate change;
  • reiterates its commitment to a diverse financial ecosystem in which the large pan-European players coexist with small and medium-sized banks and other non-banking entities that focus reliably on the financing of the real economy on an equal footing, in an environment of much reduced systemic risk.