Commission decides to refer Spain to the Court of Justice of the European Union for failing to transpose the Directive on certain aspects of the minimum requirement for own funds and eligible liabilities

This article is brought to you in association with the European Commission.

Today, the European Commission decided to refer Spain to the Court of Justice of the European Union for failing to transpose the Directive as regards certain aspects of the minimum requirement for own funds and eligible liabilities (Directive (EU) 2024/1174).

This Directive amends certain aspects of the minimum requirement for own funds and eligible liabilities (MREL) to be met by banks and other entities, more specifically by allowing MREL to be set on a consolidated basis for a broader scope of entities and by introducing a dedicated treatment for entities that are expected to be liquidated in normal insolvency proceedings when they fail.

Member States were required to transpose this Directive in full by 13 November 2024. To date, all other EU Member States have declared complete transposition of the Directive. However, national implementing measures have still not been notified by Spain. The Commission sent a letter of formal notice to Spain on 31 January 2025 and subsequently a reasoned opinion on 17 July 2025.

The Commission considers that efforts by Spain have, to date, been insufficient since they have still not notified the Commission of the full transposition of the Directive into their national laws. Therefore, the Commission has decided to refer Spain to the Court of Justice and to request financial sanctions.

In the absence of transposition of Directive (EU) 2024/1174, an unequal level playing field will persist between banks established in Spain and those established in other Member States which have transposed it. As a consequence, banking groups established in Spain will be deprived of the possibility to benefit from a more favourable regulatory treatment provided by this Directive, possibly resulting in higher funding costs, than groups with the same structure established in other Member States.

Uniform application of the rules under the Directive is important for the proper functioning of the Single Market in banking, so that all banking groups with the same structure operate subject to the same requirements.

Similarly, the liquidation entities established in Spain will not benefit from the new simplified rules which generally exempt them from MREL requirements, again leading to level-playing field issues.  

More information 

EU infringement procedure  

Infringement decisions database and infringements map and graphs   

July 2026 infringement package 

Infringement procedure Spain (INFR(2025)0051)