Bank resolutions to remain a politically influenced affair

Today in Strasbourg the three EU decision making bodies, the Council as represented by its Greek Presidency, the Parliament and the Commission, in a procedure called ‘trilogue’ will try to bridge their differences and come up with a ground breaking agreement to complete the European Banking Union. This is the most important project enterprised by […]

Close to final agreement on the EU Banking Union

Yesterday’s Eurogroup and today’s ECOFIN councils are convened almost exclusively to discuss the details of the two remaining gaps in the legal and of course the operating framework of the European Banking Union, which are, the Single Resolution Mechanism and the Resolution Fund. The two legislative bodies of the European Union, the Parliament and the […]

Parliament: Last compromise on bank single resolution mechanism

Undeniably, the European Banking Union’s prime target is to definitely cut the umbilical cord between banks and sovereigns, through the creation of a uniform supervision and insolvency dealing environment for all Eurozone lenders. Yet, Germany and France insist that the final decision for the resolution of a failing bank must be taken by member state […]

The Eurogroup+ is born to govern the EU Banking Union

The importance of the Single Resolution Fund, which is supposed to bear the cost of Eurozone’s failing banks, was underlined yesterday evening by the fact that the President of Eurogroup, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the Dutch minister of Finance, baptized the group of people who will govern the function of the SRF as Eurogroup+. The Eurogroup is […]

Eurozone: Despite anemic growth and shaky banks marks record trade surplus

Yesterday morning, Eurostat, the EU statistical service, reserved a pleasant surprise to the European decision-makers by announcing its estimates for economic growth during the last quarter of 2013, with all four big Eurozone economies found in the positive part of the chart. Of course this development was not a surprise for Germany, but for both […]

A new proposal breaks the stalemate over the Banking Union

According to the European Commissioner Michel Barnier, the Eurozone member states, who participate in the Eurogoup and the ECOFIN councils are ready to soften their position in the negotiations with the European Parliament, to lift the deadlock over the creation of the Banking Union. This is a step forward in resolving the stalemate around the […]

The mother of all fights about inflation, growth and banks

Reading two accounts by two different people, about what happened in the Eurogroup meeting yesterday in Brussels, gives a clear indication of what will be decided in the ECOFIN Council today. Ollie Rehn, Vice-President of the European Commission and member of the Commission responsible for Economic and Monetary Affairs and the Euro, and Jeroen Dijsselbloem, […]

ECOFIN: Choosing between the re-unification of Eurozone and a stalemate

Tomorrow’s Economic and Finance Ministers Council (ECOFIN) set to be convened in Brussels, the first under the Greek Presidency, will have the crucial task to decide on the construction of the European Banking Union. In view of that, the European Parliament sent a letter to the Greek Presidency of the Council, rejecting both the legal […]

Parliament toughens its position on banking union

The Conference of Presidents of the European Parliament reiterated the tough position of the legislative in relation to the Single Resolution Mechanism for failing banks. The SRM is meant to complete within the next four months the enactment of a real European Banking Union, according to the MEPs vision. In order to emphasise the decisiveness […]

The Parliament defies a politically biased Banking Union

The European Parliament prepares for the fight which is about to begin with the Council, over the negotiations on the creation of the Single Resolution Mechanism and Fund to deal with failing banks. This will be the last step towards the completion of the European Banking Union, the major EU project after the introduction of […]

Draghi sees inflationary bubbles

The governor of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi, speaking yesterday in the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee of the European Parliament, in an unexpectedly strong statement said that the euro area is still open to “potential inflationary bubbles”. He then added that “the possible effects of Euro exchange rates on inflation must be monitored […]