Ministers reached a political agreement on the Recovery and
Resilience Facility (RRF), the main instrument of the €750 billion
recovery package negotiated by EU leaders at their meeting on
17-21 July.
The aim of the facility is to provide large-scale financial support
for reforms and investments undertaken by member states, to mitigate the
economic and social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and to make the EU
economies more sustainable, resilient and better prepared for the
challenges posed by the green and digital transitions. It would offer a
mix of grants (€312.5 billion) and loans (€360 billion) to member
states.
The proposal for a regulation establishing this instrument has been
discussed intensively within the Council during the past few months.
Ministers exchanged views on the outstanding issues, including
governance, control systems and the challenges to be addressed in the
recovery and resilience plans to be submitted by member states with a
view to receiving RRF support.
The political agreement reached today will be formalised by the
Permanent Representatives Committee as a mandate for negotiations with
the European Parliament. The Council's position will guide the
presidency in negotiations with the Parliament, which the presidency
aims to conclude as soon as possible.
As the presidency we are very pleased that we reached an
agreement on the Recovery and Resilience Facility among the member
states today. We are on track. The facility lies at the heart of our
efforts to tackle the fall-out of the COVID-19 crisis. It will help
member states recover from the crisis while investing in the green and
digital transitions and preparing their economies for the future. We
hope that we will be able to conclude the legislative process with the
Parliament as soon as possible. There is no time to lose.
Olaf Scholz, Germany’s Federal Minister of Finance and Vice Chancellor
Digital finance
Ministers exchanged views on the digital finance package presented by the Commission, comprising:
- digital finance and retail payments strategies
- legislative proposals on crypto-assets and digital operational resilience of the financial sector
The package aims to boost Europe's competitiveness and innovation in
the financial sector, giving consumers more choice in financial
services and modern payment solutions, while ensuring consumer
protection and financial stability.
In their discussion, ministers focused on the field of retail
payments, where substantial improvements have been made in recent years,
but the EU market is still fragmented and largely reliant on large
global players. They signalled their broad support for the package,
including the retail payment strategy presented by the Commission, and
stressed the importance of striving for a strong and sovereign Europe in
digital finance.
The presidency highlighted its intention to work intensively on the
legislative proposals on crypto-assets and operational resilience to
achieve as much progress as possible on these files.
Capital markets union
The Commission also presented its communication on a new action plan
on the Capital Markets Union (CMU). This was followed by an exchange of
views among ministers.
The Commission's action plan has three key objectives:
- ensuring that the EU's economic recovery is green, digital,
inclusive and resilient by making financing more accessible for EU
companies, in particular SMEs
- making the EU an even safer place for individuals to save and invest in the long term
- integrating national capital markets into a genuine EU-wide single market for capital
The Commission put forward 16 targeted measures to achieve these objectives and make real progress towards completing the CMU.
Ministers outlined their overall assessment of the renewed action
plan, including their priorities as regards the principles and measures
mentioned in the Commission's communication. Their exchange of views
will feed into the preparation of Council conclusions on the CMU, which
the presidency aims to adopt in December.
European Semester
Ministers held an exchange of views on lessons learned from the
European Semester 2020 and ways forward in the context of the recovery
from the COVID-19 crisis. The discussion focused on the forward-looking
elements of the European Semester process, including the changes that
will be introduced in the forthcoming exercise in view of the
introduction of the Recovery and Resilience Facility in 2021.
Other items
The presidency informed ministers about the progress achieved on the
current financial services legislative proposals. Among other things,
the presidency highlighted the Capital Markets Recovery Package, which
will help to support a quick economic recovery, and the review of the
Benchmark Regulation, which will allow EU regulators to address the
potential discontinuation of relevant benchmarks in the EU or in third
countries and thus protect financial stability.
The presidency also informed ministers about the next steps following
the Eurogroup's support for the candidacy of Frank Elderson to become
the new member of the European Central Bank's Executive Board. The
Council recommendation on the appointment of Mr Elderson will be adopted
by written procedure, followed by the final appointment of the new
member by the European Council after it has consulted the European
Parliament and the ECB's Governing Council.
- ECB Executive Board: Eurogroup gives support to Frank Elderson's candidacy (Eurogroup press release, 5 October 2020)
Ministers also took stock of preparations for the G20 finance
ministers' and central bank governors' meeting on 14 October and the
International Monetary and Financial Committee (IMFC) annual meeting on
15 and 16 October, as well as the outcome of the call for nominations
for a European candidate for the election of the IMFC chair.