Barnier presented the following points:

• ESMA is the only one of the three new authorities with direct supervisory responsibilities, and in crucial areas.

• ESMA will become the EU's supervisor for trade repositories. This is the aim of our legislative proposal on OTC derivatives.

• Other questions are also essential, including sovereign debt ratings, the limited competition in the rating industry, liability towards investors and issues pertaining to conflict of interests.

• Europe will move forward in the coming weeks. But we also need to act at a global level. In the coming days, he will write to Francois Baroin so that they can look at these issues again in the G20 context, helped of course by the expertise of the IMF.

• To be more demanding when it comes to how CRAs rate sovereign debt. These ratings play a crucial role not only for the rated countries but for all our countries: a downgrading has the immediate effect of making a country's borrowing more expensive, it makes states weaker, and there are possible effects of contagion on neighbouring economies.

• ESMA is at the centre of a network of EU securities supervisors, with more muscle and more powers to coordinate than its predecessor, CESR.

• ESMA will also have a role drafting legislation, in the form of technical standards. These will be crucial to the success of our new regulatory framework. And the technical standards prepared by ESMA will also be directly applicable.

• ESMA will also be responsible for constantly monitoring markets, together with national supervisors. ESMA will play a key role putting an end to the remaining shadowy parts of the financial sector.

• On short selling, ESMA can and must play a central role in ensuring a consistent and effective European response in exceptional situations.

Full speech