The crisis-based European Union financial regulatory intervention: are we on the top of the prudential wave?
- PDF / 694,575 Bytes
- 22 Pages / 439.37 x 666.142 pts Page_size
- 64 Downloads / 123 Views
The crisis-based European Union financial regulatory intervention: are we on the top of the prudential wave? Christos V. Gortsos1,2
© ERA 2015
Abstract The new European Union framework pertaining to financial regulation, supervision and oversight is a ‘child of the crisis’—indeed, to be more precise, that of two crises: the recent (2007–2009) international financial crisis, and the current fiscal crisis in the euro area, which erupted in 2010. The new framework addresses most of the causes of these crises by introducing a set of extensive rules aimed at three primary goals: enhancement of financial stability, enhancement of market efficiency, transparency and integrity, and enhancement of consumer protection. It has also established two pan-European mechanisms for micro-prudential supervision and resolution of (at least) systemically important credit institutions and investment firms, within the framework of the European Banking Union. Within this context, the present article focuses mainly on the new aspects of European Union banking regulation and supervision. Keywords Banking Regulation and Supervision · Financial Stability · European Banking Union · Single Supervisory Mechanism · Single Resolution Mechanism · European Capital Markets Union
B Professor of International Economic Law C.V. Gortsos [email protected]
1
Panteion University of Athens, Athens, Greece
2
Visiting Professor, Europa-Institut, Universität des Saarlandes, and Law Faculty, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Lykeiou Street 10, 10674 Athens, Greece
C.V. Gortsos
1 The new regulatory and supervisory framework: a general overview 1.1 A new legislative process Since 2008, several legal acts have been adopted by European Union financial regulators (i.e., mainly the European Parliament, the ECOFIN Council, the European Commission and to a certain extent also the European Central Bank (‘ECB’)), which reshaped the regulatory and supervisory framework pertaining to the European Union financial system. The legislative process for adopting such acts has also been improved. This is due to two factors. (a) The first is the amendment of the Treaties by the Lisbon Treaty. According to Article 289 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), in force since 2009, the European Commission maintains the right of initiative for proposing legislative acts (the acts formerly called ‘basic legal acts’), while the European Parliament and the Council have the main political responsibility for adopting regulations (which are directly applicable) and directives (which need to be transposed into national legislation). The new Article 290 TFEU introduced the instrument of delegated acts, which may be adopted by the Commission without following the ‘comitology procedure’ (still necessary only for the implementing acts under Article 291 TFEU, according to the provisions of Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council “laying down the rules and general principles concerning mechanisms for control by
Data Loading...
