WIREDGOV

Yesterday in Brussels, EU member states agreed on the setting up of a new EU single supervisor for banks. This followed a key breakthrough in Ministerial talks at the Ecofin informal meeting in Dublin on 12-13 April.

In their agreement, member states endorsed the deal brokered by the Irish Presidency with the European Parliament to give the European Central Bank responsibility for supervising European banks.

The Irish Minister for Finance, Michael Noonan, said:

"This agreement on the single banking supervisor is a major step towards banking union. It comes at an important time for Europe.

We need to build on this momentum to make progress on the next building blocks: bank resolution and deposit guarantees.

We in the Irish Presidency, for our part, will spare no effort in working to forge agreement on these key elements of our future economic and financial stability."

Agreement on the single supervisor has been a key goal of the Irish Presidency.

The formal agreement is accompanied by a political declaration reaffirming Member States’ commitment to the urgent completion of banking union, and noting that a proposal for Treaty Change will be considered constructively, to ring-fence and strengthen the governance and accountability of the separate supervisory function of the ECB.

The European Parliament will now begin its approval process relating to the EBA Regulation before final approval by the Council without further discussion.