Plenary Session: EU countries and Commission need to deliver faster on financial sector reform

13 June 2013

Delays cause uncertainty, which holds up sustainable economic growth and job creation, said Parliament in a resolution. The resolution lists laws held up by lack of agreement in Council, such as draft rules, frozen since the start of 2012, to guarantee deposits below €100,000.

It also calls on the Commission to table the proposals that it said it would, such as the draft securities law directive, which is already two years late.

Release Council consensus brakes

Besides listing cases where Council has been slow to act, the resolution doubts the Member States' motivation to press ahead with reform and criticises their insistence on agreeing positions by consensus, even where a majority would suffice. On banking union for example, the resolution says EU countries apparently lack the determination to strike the agreements needed to put their public pledges to complete the banking union into effect.

The same applies to reviewing rules for safer trading platforms (review of markets in financial instruments directive), which remains blocked in Council even though EU countries' heads of state set a deadline for finalising it (end 2012), the resolution says.

Rather than decide by consensus, the Council should shoulder its political responsibility and vote its positions by a qualified majority, the adopted text says.

Dust off Commission proposals and do impact study

The resolution urges the Commission both to table its promised proposals and to assess the effectiveness and proportionality of legislation passed since the start of the financial crisis. This study should also model the impact of not completing the banking union, and the effect that this would have on sovereign debt, it adds.

The resolution was approved by 483 votes to 27, with 65 abstentions.

Press release

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