Open Europe : persoverzicht

[Politics.be]

Germany and France push for bank tax across the EU; Barnier to announce EU proposals later this month The IHT reports that the German cabinet yesterday agreed in principle to impose a tax on banks to help finance future bailouts but left details of the plan to be worked out when drafting legislation in coming months. French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde also attended the meeting and a joint Franco-German statement read, "We are supporting the introduction of bank resolution regimes in all EU member states."


The WSJ notes that German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble said that Germany will not wait for a broader European plan before enacting its own levy. El Economista quotes the Spanish EU Minister Diego López Garrido, whose country holds the rotating EU Presidency, describing the levy as "a healthy idea".



Meanwhile, European Voice notes that, after the Easter break, EU Internal Market Commissioner Michel Barnier will present EU-wide proposals for insurance funds which would allow failing institutions to be wound down in an orderly fashion, minimising the effects on the rest of the banking sector. In a speech last month Barnier said, "It is a universally accepted principle that the polluter pays. I see no reason why things should be any different in financial matters."



Barnier is planning to present a paper to EU finance ministers who will meet in Madrid on 15-16 April.

WSJ Guardian IHT La Tribune L'Express NouvelObs Euractiv.fr Le Figaro Le Figaro 2 El Economista Le Monde El Pais European Voice EurActiv City AM FT



Lords Committee warns that Commission's plans to regulate derivatives are too costly and 'unrealistic'

The Telegraph reports that the House of Lords EU Committee has warned that the European Commission's proposals to regulate over-the-counter derivatives, which are contained in a draft directive due to be published in June, could risk damaging financial stability and burden companies with huge additional expense. City Minister Paul Myners said that under new rules companies that traded derivatives could face a 0.7 percent drop in their earnings - wiping billions of pounds in value from the real economy.



Baroness Janet Cohen, who chairs the Committee said, "It is imperative that new rules increase transparency without swooping over everything and causing damage." She added, "The devil is in the detail and hopefully the Commission won't make the same mistakes as it did with the hedge fund directive by lumping in lots of different things together."



City AM notes that the Committee warned that the EU's European Sales and Marketing Association would not be able to claim authority over clearing houses for derivatives because it does not have the financial clout to bail them out if they went under. Baroness Cohen said, "We have some problems with the Commission's idea that the EU should be supervising in this field - we just don't think it's realistic."

City AM Telegraph



Charlemagne critiques Open Europe's report on the cost of EU regulation

On his Economist Charlemagne blog, David Rennie criticises Open Europe's report on the cost and benefits of regulation in the UK since 1998, and the proportion of that cost stemming from the EU. He argues the findings are "tendentious because the British government would have regulated in all sorts of areas even if we did not belong to the EU, and because not all regulation has benefits that can be directly costed." On Open Europe's findings that, according to the Government's own impact assessments, UK-derived laws on average produce a benefit roughly 2.5 higher than EU laws, Rennie argues "The EU and national governments regulate different things, because of the way legislative competences are divvied up by the EU treaties. So