Ecofin, rejected the Dutch proposal on the roof to government bonds to banks – Il Sole 24 Ore

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This article was published April 22, 2016 at 19:57 hours.
the last change is the April 22, 2016 at 19:59 hours.

Debated and yet rejected the Dutch proposal within the Ecofin, supported by Germany and Finland, to impose a ceiling on domestic government bonds purchased to banks and thus break the connection between the financial statements of banks and sovereign risk. request to discuss the unique system of deposit guarantees, in practice completion Banking Union that by 2024 would see “mutualizzate” the national resources of the individual guarantee funds. Position, the Dutch, clearly opposed by Italy, that among the EU countries is certainly one that would suffer the most negative consequences. However, the stability of the entire euro system would be compromised, restarting a phase of great uncertainty. The discussion did not take part German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble (though he spoke the German central banker Jens Weidmann). But what matters is that a stretch of proved impossible.

“I do not think there is a common position, is playing a quiet fruitful conversation without conflicts, positions have emerged, and before changing the current system need to investigate alternatives and emphasize that between 2011 and today much has been done on the regulatory plan. ” So the Bank of Italy Governor Ignazio Visco at the end of Ecofin. “I think you have to capitalize on what has been done so far,” he added. The discussion on the risks that banks run owning government bonds, according to Visco, should not be linked to the furtherance Banking Union. Which “must go on, and in parallel, in the context of the Basel Committee, need to find a global solution to the question of risk related to government bonds.”

The position of the Italian governor is not at all isolated. “At least 13 of Ecofin ministers (including the Italian Pier Carlo Padoan, editor’s note), have declared in favor of the fact that the treatment of banks’ exposures to sovereign debt need to be addressed within the context of Basel, not outside and not before , “said the president of MEP Roberto Gualtieri commission who attended the Ecofin meeting. “It is an approach based on wisdom.”

The European Commissioner for Financial Markets, Jonathan Hill, claimed as Visco that “it is important to carry out” the discussion about the treatment of exposures to sovereign debt of the banks but “in the context of the Basel Committee, not I think it makes sense to proceed unilaterally. ”

Slightly different, understandably, the version of the President of Ecofin, Dutchman Jeroen Dijsselbloem, according to which “some ministers stressed the importance of acting globally, with our partners in the Committee Basel, others have argued that in the euro area there are arguments to move forward separately if necessary. ” Dijsselbloem added that “this is an issue that must not be treated quickly, to be implemented overnight, but that should be managed in the long run, I think there is a chance to proceed in parallel with the Basel Committee and in Europe.”

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