14 October 2011

ECON Committee: Consideration of amendments of the Omnibus II Directive

Balz called on the Commission to present the implementing regulations as soon as possible. He also alluded to the need to increase the codecision powers of the European Parliament and to ensure legal certainty and strong supervisory authorities. Mr Fox (ECR, UK) called for the swift implementation of Solvency II and stressed the need for long-term certainty regarding third-country equivalence, suggesting the extension of the transitional period from five to 10 years.

Ms Wortmann-Kool (EPP, NL) disagreed and favoured a shorter period. She and Ms Ferreira (S&D, PT) defended a harmonised European regulatory framework with strong clear powers for the European supervisors.

Mr Giegold (Greens/EFA, DE) underlined the risk of the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) losing some of its competencies such as arbitrage. He recommended a balanced approach safeguarding the interests of both insurance providers and insured parties.

Mr Sánchez Presedo (S&D, UK) supported the attribution of discretionary powers to the European supervisors, whereas Ms Bowles (ALDE, UK) stressed that Solvency II needed to be in place in order for EIOPA to be fully operational.

As regards the information that companies should submit to national supervisors for assessment, Mr Klute (GUE/NGL, DE), on behalf of Mr Portas (GUE/NGL, PT), called for the European regulatory framework to align all practices according to the relevant set of criteria. Ms Ferreira (S&D, PT) and Ms Bowles (ALDE, UK) contested restricting access to information because it would hinder the capacity of supervisors to carry out assessments. Ms Bowles noted that access to information should not be unlimited either.

The Commission representative acknowledged the necessity to have Solvency II operational as quickly as possible but underlined the need to have a balanced approach which would primarily safeguard the interests of policy holders.

He informed the Committee that the Commission's implementing measures would be presented by the end of October 2011. As regards the distinction between delegated acts and regulatory technical standards (RTS), he noted that Solvency II should not be compared with the Capital Requirement Directive since it was essentially a framework Directive and pointed out that RTS should not be used in policy options. He stressed that helping third countries converge towards Solvency II was key. He warned that it was imperative not to put a framework in place that would create artificial volatility and endanger the provision of long-term.

Full Draft report

Proposed amendments

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