The Ministry of National Economy and Finance of Greece published Finance Minister and Eurogroup President Kyriakos Pierrakakis’ intervention at the public session of the European Union Economic and Financial Affairs Council, where he backed the European Commission’s proposal on the Market Integration and Supervision Package as the most coherent and ambitious route to the Savings and Investments Union. He framed the package around deeper capital markets, more efficient channelling of European savings into European investment, coherent rules for crypto assets and stronger supervision to support integrated markets. In the intervention, Greece argued that deeper market integration requires a corresponding degree of central European supervision and that market participants with systemic importance or broad cross-border activity should be supervised through a common European approach rather than through 27 national supervisory perspectives. It said strengthening the role and capabilities of the European Securities and Markets Authority is therefore a necessary condition for a more integrated, efficient and competitive European financial market. On crypto-asset service providers, Greece said it has consistently supported the European Commission’s original proposal, but added that if member states settle on direct ESMA supervision only for the largest providers, the criteria should be ambitious and forward-looking enough to capture not only the largest firms today but also fast-growing and highly interconnected firms whose activities could become systemic over time. The future framework should also rest on substantive cooperation between ESMA and national competent authorities. Pierrakakis said the Capital Markets Union should be completed before the end of the year during the Irish Presidency, and called for support to help deliver that outcome.

Original source Back to tracker