Ecofin, green light for a possible European tax on extra profits from energy companies

Agreement reached on market supervision

Ecofin also reached a political agreement on Market Supervision, i.e. on the package that provides measures to deepen the integration of EU capital markets aiming to support competitiveness. “The legal text will now be finalized to reflect the understanding reached and will then be formally approved at a future Council meeting. I hope that, in time, the decision taken today can be seen as a milestone for the European Union and our economy,” Simon Harris said.

Giorgetti: “Compromise on EU supervision is a great political success”

The Italian Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti, speaking during the meeting of the Economy Ministers of the 27 EU countries, defines having managed to "reach a compromise" as "a great political success". The package, he explained, "strengthens the integration of European markets and provides Esma (the European Securities and Markets Authority, ed.) with broader responsibilities and a governance better suited to exercising them", he underlined, thanking the Irish presidency "for the very intense work carried out in recent weeks and in particular for the effort made to build an overall balance on the package".

The fundamental elements according to Italy

For Italy, continues Giorgetti, the most important elements are three. "First, preserve the Council's ambition on European Supervision", because "centralization must focus on activities and infrastructures for which a European dimension of supervision produces real added value". Although, he adds, "the architecture must remain proportionate and operationally sustainable and must take into account national specificities". Second point: "On the cooperation model built by the Council we are in favor of a functional governance structure that gives adequate weight to the Executive Board". A stronger ESMA, he continued, "does not require giving up the skills present at national level. On the contrary, the quality of European supervision will also depend on the ability to incorporate the knowledge of local markets and the experience of national authorities in a structured way". Then the third element. "We must ensure that any transfer of supervisory responsibilities takes place with a coherent structure of operational, legal and financial responsibilities and in this sense it will be a priority that the strengthening of ESMA's role is accompanied by adequate resources, by a sustainable financing framework that provides for a growing role for the European budget", he concluded.