BERLIN (MNI) – The German government on Friday raised doubts that
an European agreement on a legal framework for banking supervision could
be reached by next week.
“There’s no lack of good will, but one should not forget that this
is one of the most complex, if not the most complex integration project
of recent years,” Finance Ministry spokesman Martin Kotthaus said at a
regular press conference here. “The phrase is still true that quality
comes before exaggerated speed.”
Eurozone finance ministers at the Eurogroup meeting next week will
try to finalize an agreement. “But the questions are really profound and
difficult,” Kotthaus cautioned
Government spokesman Steffen Seibert said European heads of states
and governments at their summit next week will not discuss the issue, as
the topic will remain at the level of the finance ministers.
Germany has been pushing hard for maintaining a central role for
national supervisors in monitoring local banks. Economics Minister
Philipp Roesler earlier Friday suggested a compromise in the debate over
the role of the ECB that would see banking supervision mostly conducted
by national authorities, with the ECB maintaining the right to intervene
when necessary.
The ECB should “get the possibility, theoretically, to intervene in
the banking system, in other words to take supervision on itself, when
it is necessary, but only when it is necessary,” Roesler said.
Eurozone members must be ready to hand over some degree of control
to European authorities, including giving up some measure of control
“even over the whole banking landscape in Germany,” the minister
acknowledged.
–Berlin bureau: +49-30-22 62 05 80; email: twidder@mni-news.com
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