Financial Times
October 17, 2012
A plan to create a single eurozone banking supervisor is illegal, according to a secret legal opinion for EU finance ministers that deals a further blow to a reform deemed vital to solving the bloc’s debt crisis.
A paper from the EU Council’s top legal adviser, obtained by the Financial Times, argues the plan goes “beyond the powers” permitted under law to change governance rules at the European Central Bank.
The legal service concludes that without altering EU treaties it would be impossible to give a bank supervision board within the ECB any formal decision-making powers as suggested in the blueprint drawn up by the European Commission.
Those non-eurozone countries that want to opt into the bank supervision regime would also be legally unable to vote on any ECB decisions – a key demand of countries such as Sweden and Poland.
While it is common for lawyers from different EU institutions to disagree on aspects of proposals, diplomats involved in the talks said the sharp difference in legal opinion would complicate efforts to overcome the deep-set concerns of some member states. Banking union will be a central topic at the EU leaders summit on Thursday.
More
No comments:
Post a Comment