MNI BRIEF: Netherlands, Ireland Oppose Unified EU Supervision

Proposals to centralise and strengthen European Union market supervision under a French-backed drive to reinvigorate the Capital Markets Union initiative are strongly opposed by Netherlands, Ireland and Luxembourg, officials at a Eurogroup meeting of finance ministers told MNI.

Germany is also unenthusiastic about unifying markets supervision, officials said. The meeting in Ghent saw French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire call for countries to be able to opt into single supervision, and also for the creation of common EU savings products which would provide joint funding for the bloc’s governments. The savings product proposal has prompted Italian fears it could compete with existing retail bond programmes. (See MNI: Italy Fears EU Retail Bond Could Sap BTP Demand-Officials)

Chair Paschal Donohoe said the Eurogroup would work hard in coming weeks to agree a statement on CMU for endorsement by a European summit in March.