MEPs will discuss on Tuesday (11 December) proposals on bank capital requirements and a single supervisory mechanism for eurozone banks. These two core pieces of economic legislation were supposed to be agreed by the end of the year, but are stuck while MEPs negotiate with the member states. On Wednesday morning (12 December), MEPs will hold a debate ahead of the European Council on 13-14 December, at which EU leaders will discuss banking supervision and economic governance. 

A draft directive and regulation on capital requirements for banks and investment firms, known as CRD IV, is aimed at shielding banks against financial shocks. The last round of talks between MEPs, member states’ diplomats and European Commission officials (29 November) failed to bridge the differences between the Parliament and the Council.

Wolfgang Schäuble, Germany’s finance minister, told MEPs on Monday (3 December) that he hoped the legislation would finally be agreed before the end of the year. The failure to agree so far was “not the Council’s responsibility”, he said. But disagreements persist between the member states about issues ranging from a cap on bankers’ bonuses to the flexibility that national authorities should be given in implementing the tougher capital requirements.

The single supervisory mechanism for eurozone banks, a cornerstone of the EU’s planned banking union, is highly controversial among the member states, and handing the European Central Bank (ECB) new supervisory powers requires unanimity in the Council.

National supervision

France wants to give the ECB sweeping powers to supervise European banks, while Germany wants direct ECB supervision only for banks that pose a systemic risk or that receive bail-outs. Most member states want small banks to remain under national supervision, something that France is willing to consider, provided the ECB remains the authority in principle and has the right to scrutinise any bank. A meeting of EU finance ministers on Tuesday (4 December) failed to bridge the gap between the two positions. The finance ministers will meet again on Wednesday (12 December).

Click Here: cheap all stars rugby jersey

Marianne Thyssen, a centre-right Belgian MEP, and Sven Giegold, a German Green, were given a mandate to negotiate with the Council last week (29 November). Some MEPs, including Jean-Paul Gauzès, a centre-right French MEP, said that the Parliament should not finalise its position on the dossier at a time when the Council’s position is still unclear, but they were outvoted.

The Parliament is adamant that the two pieces of legislation on banking supervision should be treated together because that would enhance the bargaining position of MEPs. Empowering the ECB to supervise EU banks requires unanimity among the member states, but only consultation with the Parliament; changes to the regulation on the European Banking Authority (which is supposed to define its relationship with the ECB) require the support of a majority of both MEPs and member states.

Patent pending

The plenary will on Tuesday vote on the creation of a single EU-wide patent, if the member states approve a compromise text at the competitiveness council the day before.

Members of the Parliament’s legal-affairs committee endorsed the compromise last month, but are suspicious of member states’ intentions after the Council in June changed the text that had been agreed with MEPs.

On Wednesday, the European Parliament’s Sakharov Prize for human rights will be awarded, although the two recipients – Iranian human-rights activists Nasrin Sotoudeh and Jafar Panahi – will be unable to attend the ceremony. Sotoudeh is on a hunger strike in Tehran’s infamous Evin prison, with her health deteriorating.