The eurozone's proposed banking supervisor should
be fully operational by 2014, according to an EU report on economic
and monetary union published Thursday, which did not envisage the
introduction of eurobonds to stabilize the currency bloc.
Member states had pledged to agree on the fundamentals of joint
banking supervision by the end of the year, in order to implement it
over the following 12 months.
But EU diplomats said Thursday that it could take several more
weeks to agree to a legal framework - pushing the deal beyond an
end-of-year deadline - after finance ministers abandoned negotiations
earlier this week.
One of the sticking points is Germany's insistence that many of
its regional banks should not fall directly under the supervisor,
while France and other countries argue that it must apply to all of
the eurozone's approximately 6,000 banks.
"It is imperative that the preparatory work can start in earnest
at the beginning of 2013, so that the SSM (single supervisory
mechanism) can be fully operational from 1 January 2014," read the
report prepared by EU President Herman Van Rompuy.
The supervisor is a prerequisite for the eurozone's permanent
bailout mechanism to directly refinance ailing banks - the "legal and
operational framework" for which should be in place by the end of
March 2013, according to the report.
The 15-page document outlines three stages to accomplish economic
and monetary union in the next two years and beyond.
It includes proposals for eurozone member states to enter into
direct contractual reform pledges with the European Commission, the
bloc's executive; a bank resolution fund at the European level to
unburden taxpayers; and a eurozone "fiscal capacity" to absorb
country-specific economic shocks.
The document makes no reference, however, to joint eurozone debt
issuance, or eurobonds. Germany is strictly against the proposal,
which is championed by France and southern European states.
EU diplomats argued Thursday that eurobonds would not be necessary
because the establishment of a joint fiscal capacity would provide
enough resources to stabilize the currency bloc.
"A euro area fiscal capacity could ... offer an appropriate basis
for common debt issuance without resorting to the mutualization of
sovereign debt," Van Rompuy's report stated.
However it remained vague on the funding for a fiscal capacity -
separate from the EU budget - which could take the form of "national
contributions, own resources or a combination of both," but "should
not lead to an increase in expenditure or taxation levels."
The report, which is to be discussed at next week's summit of
EU leaders, includes input from commission President Jose Manuel
Barroso, the head of the Eurogroup of eurozone finance ministers
Jean-Claude Juncker and European Central Bank President Mario Draghi.
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News Column
Eurozone Roadmap Includes Bank Supervisor
Dec. 6, 2012
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Source: Copyright 2012 dpa Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH
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