The Committee of Permanent Representatives of the EU (COREPER) today approved the provisional agreement reached between the Presidency and the Parliament on the Regulation on a Single Resolution Mechanism. 

 

Welcoming the approval of the deal, the President of the ECOFIN Council, Yannis Stournaras, made the following statement:

“I warmly welcome the approval today by the Committee of Permanent Representatives of the EU (COREPER) of the compromise agreement reached by the Hellenic Presidency in its negotiations with the European Parliament on the Single Resolution Mechanism. This is probably the single most important achievement of the Presidency so far, given the divergence of views surrounding the issue, the very limited time we had to conduct trilogues with the Parliament and the Commission and, of course, the significance of the file itself.

 

However, despite these difficulties, we were able to bridge the differences and I believe that the outcome is a very good one as it ensures the efficiency and credibility of a truly European resolution mechanism, contributing thus to financial stability, which facilitates the injection of much needed liquidity into the real economy leading to sustainable growth and job creation.”

 

The approval of the agreement enables the European Parliament to approve the text at first reading before it adjourns for elections in May. The Council plans to subsequently adopt the regulation without further discussion. 

 

The creation of a single resolution mechanism (SRM) – with a central decision-making board and a single resolution fund – will ensure that resolution decisions across participating member states will be taken in a coordinated and effective manner, minimizing negative impacts on financial stability and reducing the dependence of banks on the creditworthiness of sovereigns without recourse to taxpayers' money. 

 

The SRM will form one of the key elements of Europe's banking union, along with the single supervisory mechanism (SSM) that entered into force in November. It will cover all banks established in the euro area and in other member states that choose to participate.