EU lawmakers begin 'tough' talks on new bank oversight system

EU lawmakers begin 'tough' talks on new bank oversight system

 

Brussels (AFP)

 

The European Parliament launched "tough negotiations" with EU member states on Wednesday on enacting a new bank regulatory system meant to prevent any repetition of the financial crisis.

 

An agreement is needed before elections in May.

 

A parliamentary statement, foreseeing that the talks would be "tough", said that "positions are far apart, with MEPs insisting that the system must not be cumbersome or vulnerable to political back-room deals."

 

European finance ministers agreed in December what is known as a Single Resolution Mechanism, designed to step in and close down a failing bank before it can do too much damage to the economy.

 

The crucial issue was who would run the SRM and how it would be paid for -- in the event, it is the most powerful EU states such as Germany which will likely have most say in any decision to close a bank.

 

Meanwhile, a back-up fund levied on the banks themselves will be phased in over 10 years until it totals 55 billion euros ($75.0 billion) but this arrangement will be covered by bilateral treaties and so will be beyond Parliament's oversight.

 

When the deal was approved by EU leaders last month, European Parliament head Martin Schulz warned that they would face "very long negotiations" as the proposal fell "very far" from what lawmakers wanted.

 

He specifically complained about the complex legal basis which could slow down the SRM's work when speed is essential, and of the way the SRM fund was set up, which he judged to be "unacceptable."

 

Wednesday's brief statement noted that Schulz and the MEP leading the negotiations, Elisa Ferreira, had stated that the new system had to be "truly European and the decision-making process must be able to work swiftly, free from political interference."

 

Parliamentary approval is required for the SRM which forms what is known as the "banking union" along with an already agreed new supervisory regime to be overseen by the European Central Bank.

 

It will be introduced from 2015 and be fully operational by 2025.

 

(Agence France-Presse, 8 Wednesday January 2014 The Roman)

 

EU tightening data protection

EU tightening data protection

 

MASS SURVEILLANCE: The union is working on regulations that will make it harder to move European data to third countries, with fines running into billions of US dollars

 

(The Guardian, BRUSSELS)

 

New European rules aimed at curbing questionable transfers of data from EU countries to the US are being finalized in Brussels in the first concrete reaction to the disclosures on US and British mass surveillance of digital communications.

 

Regulations on European data protection standards are expected to pass the European Parliament committee stage on Monday, after the political groupings agreed on a new compromise draft following two years of gridlock on the issue.

 

The draft would make it harder for the big US Internet servers and social media providers to transfer European data to third countries, subject them to EU law rather than secret US court orders, and authorize swingeing fines — possibly running into the billions of dollars — for not complying with the new rules.

 

“As parliamentarians, as politicians, as governments we have lost control over our intelligence services. We have to get it back again,” German Member of the European Parliament (MEP) Jan Philipp Albrecht said, steering the data protection regulation through the parliament.

 

Data privacy in the EU is currently under the authority of national governments.

 

Standards vary enormously across the 28 countries, complicating efforts to arrive at satisfactory data transfer agreements with the US.

 

The current rules are easily sidestepped by the big Silicon Valley companies, Brussels says.

 

The new rules would ban the transfer of data unless based on EU law or under a new transatlantic pact with the US complying with EU law.

 

“Without any concrete agreement there would be no data processing by telecommunications and Internet companies allowed,” a summary of the proposed new regime says.

 

Such bans were foreseen in initial wording two years ago, but were dropped after intense lobbying from Washington.

 

The proposed ban has been revived directly as a result of the uproar over operations by the US National Security Agency following disclosures by former employee Edward Snowden.

 

Viviane Reding, EU commissioner for justice and the leading advocate in Brussels of a new system securing individuals’ rights to privacy and data protection, says that the new rulebook will rebalance the power relationship between the US and Europe on the issue, supplying leverage to force US authorities and technology firms to reform.

 

“The recent data scandals prove that sensitivity has been growing on the US side of how important data protection really is for Europeans,” Reding told a German foreign policy journal.

 

“All those US companies that do dominate the tech market and the Internet want to have access to our goldmine, the internal market with over 500 million potential customers.”

 

“If they want to access it, they will have to apply our rules. The leverage that we will have in the near future is thus the EU’s data protection regulation. It will make crystal clear that non-European companies, when offering goods and services to European consumers, will have to apply the EU data protection law in full. There will be no legal loopholes any more,” she added.

 

Yet the proposed rules remain riddled with loopholes for intelligence services to exploit, MEPs say.

 

The EU has no powers over national or European security, nor its own intelligence or security services, which are jealously guarded national prerogatives.

 

National security can be and is invoked to ignore and bypass EU rules.

 

“This regulation does not regulate the work of intelligence services,” Albrecht said.

 

“Of course, national security is a huge loophole and we need to close it, but we can’t close it with this regulation.”

 

Direct deals between the US and individual European governments might also allow the rules to be bypassed.

 

(TAIPEI TIMES, 19 Sunday October 2013 The Roman)

 

 

UK 'needs EU law opt out'

UK 'needs EU law opt out'

 

The Government needs to negotiate an “opt out” of European legislation to protect the national interest in recognition of its “declining influence” in Brussels.

 

[caption id="attachment_9033" align="alignnone" width="620"] (The Prime Minister has pledged to reneogtiate Britain's EU treaty (Photo: REUTERS))[/caption]

 

Business for Britain said the UK must be able to reject European Union laws unilaterally because the country has become increasingly isolated on issues such as financial services. Currently, policy can only be vetoed if several countries oppose it.

 

“Britain’s declining influence in the EU institutions has seriously undermined our ability to prevent a huge rise in the number and cost of regulations sent from Brussels,” the lobby group said.

 

“With the UK Government looking at possible areas of renegotiation, David Cameron [should push] for a red card system for member states.”

 

The campaign group pointed out that between 1973 and 2013, Britain’s voting power in the Council of Ministers decreased from 17pc to 8pc, and the UK now occupies just 9.5pc of seats in the European Parliament compared with 20pc in 1979.

 

In the past 40 years, the UK contribution to the EU budget has risen eight-fold from £1.04bn to £8.31bn, in today’s money.

 

Despite the declining influence and rising costs, Business for Britain pointed out that “around 50pc of UK legislation with a significant economic impact originates from EU legislation”, according to a House of Commons research paper.

 

Recently, the UK has had to file a legal challenge to Brussels’ proposed financial transaction tax and planned cap on bank bonuses, for fear that the laws would do lasting damage to the UK financial services sector.

 

Bankers and politicians have interpreted the proposals as a direct attack on the City.

 

The Prime Minister has promised to push for a treaty renegotiation to reflect the changing dynamics within Europe since the eurozone crisis. On Sunday, he told BBC One’s The Andrew Marr show: “My goal is to renegotiate our relationship with Europe, very radically.”

 

Matthew Elliott, chief executive of Business for Britain, said: “Britain has recently been left as the sole voice opposing pernicious EU financial regulation and absurd budget increases. This is why it’s more important than ever that the Government is able to get a better deal for Britain, including a veto that will stop bad EU laws holding back growth and jobs in this country.”

 

(The Telegraph, 30 Monday September 2013 The Roman)

 

 

EU and Singapore unveil new free-trade agreement

EU and Singapore unveil new free-trade agreement

 

(Reuters, BRUSSELS)

 

The EU and Singapore yesterday submitted for approval one of the world’s most comprehensive free-trade agreements, which the EU sees as a stepping stone toward a wider deal with southeast Asia.

 

The chief negotiators of both sides presented the entire text of the agreement yesterday after initialing each page of the roughly 1,000-page document.

 

Subject to approval in Singapore and by the 28 EU member states and the European Parliament, the agreement should enter into force late next year or early 2015.

 

Trade in goods between the two topped 52 billion euros (US$70.4 billion) last year and in services 28 billion euros in 2011.

 

Mutual investment has reached 190 billion euros.

 

The EU sees a free-trade deal as opening the door to a deal with other members of ASEAN, which has set a goal of economic integration by 2015.

 

The EU and ASEAN launched free-trade talks in 2007, but abandoned them two years later, the EU choosing instead to conduct bilateral talks with individual members.

 

The European Commission is already negotiating free-trade agreements with Malaysia and Vietnam, and it launched talks in March with Thailand.

 

Singapore has a population of just 5 million people, against about 600 million for the whole of ASEAN, but accounts for about a third of all EU-ASEAN trade and more than 60 percent of all investment between the two regions.

 

The deal goes beyond many other free-trade accords in committing to open up public procurement, an area where the EU has many leading suppliers, and agreeing on technical standards in areas such motor vehicles, electronics and green technologies.

 

For example, a car made according to EU standards would be accepted for sale in Singapore.

 

The EU also gains better protection of “geographical indications,” region-specific products such as Parma ham or champagne.

 

EU tariffs on virtually all items from Singapore would disappear over five years.

 

Singapore has committed to its existing zero tariffs on EU imports.

 

Singapore is likely to benefit from reduced tariffs for pharmaceutical and petrochemical products.

 

In services, particularly financial, the agreement would ensure the right to sell directly or establish branches in each other’s markets.

 

(Taipei Times, 21 Saturday September 2013 The Roman)