US trade talks top MEPs’ agenda

Compromise expected on single supervisor plans.

Members of the European Parliament will next week (20-23 May) debate the launch of free-trade talks with the US and adopt a negotiating mandate for the European Commission. The European Union and the US agreed in February to launch talks to create the world’s biggest free-trade area, and negotiations could start as early as a summit of leaders from the G8 leading economic nations in Northern Ireland on 17-18 June. A trade deal, once concluded, will require ratification by the European Parliament. 

On 25 April, members of the Parliament’s international trade committee adopted their version of the negotiating mandate, with 23 votes in favour and five against. But the committee narrowly adopted an amendment to exempt cultural and audiovisual products from the scope of the talks.

Vital Moreira, the centre-left Portuguese MEP who chairs the committee, is opposed to exempting entire industry sectors before the opening of talks because this would limit the negotiators’ room for manoeuvre. He said after the committee vote that he was confident the amendment would be overturned in plenary. A debate on Tuesday (21 May) will be followed by a vote on the negotiating mandate on Wednesday.

Fund managers

Also on Wednesday, MEPs will vote on a mandate for three-way negotiations with the European Commission and the Council of Ministers on new rules for fund managers. MEPs are seeking to cap fund managers’ bonuses and to link their salaries to their funds’ performance. They are also seeking tighter protection of individual investments. The economic and monetary affairs committee had endorsed the mandate in March. The new rules apply to undertakings for collective investments in transferable securities (UCITS), asset pools from retail investors that are then used to purchase bonds or shares.

Supervision

The plenary is expected to endorse a compromise on creating a single supervisory mechanism for eurozone banks, a core element of the EU’s banking union. It would allow the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) – the eurozone’s permanent bail-out fund – to recapitalise ailing banks directly, instead of having to work through national treasuries. The compromise had been agreed in negotiations with member states and the European Commission in March. Under the deal, the European Central Bank will supervise the eurozone banking system as a whole and have direct oversight of systemically important banks, leaving smaller banks to be monitored by national authorities. EU member states that do not use the euro can choose to enter the single supervisory mechanism at any time.

On Tuesday, the plenary will discuss the topics on the agenda of next week’s European Council (22 May) – energy policy and the fight against tax evasion and fraud. The latter is also the topic of two non-binding reports that will be debated on Tuesday evening.

MEPs are expected to endorse a decision by the Council of Ministers to hold the next elections to the European Parliament on 22-25 May 2014.

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