EU Friday – 16 October

EU Friday – 16 October

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Welcome to Better Europe's weekly update on EU Affairs.  ONE SUPERVISOR, TWENTY-SEVEN HANDBRAKES Let’s integrate everyone else’s European capital markets, just not my own please. That seemed to be the spirit last weekend when Finance Ministers agreed on their position to bury the ambition for the Market Integration and Supervision Package. Out of fear for loss of national control over financial giants, the ministers toned back ambition on the integration of financial market supervision at EU level -- so Germany’s BaFin will continue supervising Deutsche Börse rather than handing over the keys to the EU’s ESMA in Paris. And even where powers are granted to ESMA, such as supervising the estimated ten to fifteen crypto asset service providers, member states continue to hold the handbrake. This is because most decisions…
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EU Friday – 9 October

EU Friday – 9 October

EU Friday
Welcome to Better Europe's weekly update on EU Affairs.  ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS EU INC. It's going to be tight, to deliver on von der Leyen's promise made in Davos in January this year, that Europe would have an "EU Inc." company law regime by the end of the year. It is not that the Irish Presidency is not trying hard -- four meetings since the summer, two compromise texts, and a plan to start negotiations with the Parliament in November. A few weeks ago, Parliament lead negotiator René Repasi said that that timetable is 'pretty ambitious', given that MEPs are clearly unsatisfied with the Commission proposal. And indeed, Parliament decided to postpone its vote earlier this week. Meanwhile, Member States are fighting over what they are prepared…
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EU Friday – 2 October

EU Friday – 2 October

EU Friday
Welcome to Better Europe's weekly update on EU Affairs.  FROM TIRANA TO OTTAWA, WITH LOVE  In 2003, European leaders in Thessaloniki promised that "the future of the Balkans is within the European Union". Fast-forward more than two decades, and six annual visits of President von der Leyen to the region. Against the backdrop of anti-government protests that have been ongoing for four months in Tirana, the Commission chief told Prime Minister Edi Rama that Albania is "among the frontrunners" and "the goal is on the horizon". The goal obviously being full EU membership, as of 2030 or so. The timing is tight: only three negotiation chapters have been closed so far, with 30 more to go by the end of next year. Kosovo, Montenegro, and North Macedonia also got a…
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