Remarks by President van Rompuy following the first session of the European Council

19 December 2013

Van Rompuy said that for the eurozone, the agreement by finance ministers on the SRM was "the biggest leap forward since the creation of the euro itself". He also said significant progress had been made by the Council on the "E" in EMU.

Tonight, we also took stock on the Banking Union, and we are all glad that everything is falling into place. We promised this for December, and it was delivered in December.

Every banking framework comes in three parts – supervision, resolution, and deposit guarantee – and so does ours.

• First, on deposit guarantee: the new directive, which will provide a unified scheme, was agreed in trialogue two days ago;
• Second, on supervision: as you know, the single supervision mechanism will be up-and-running at the latest in November 2014; this week, Ms. Danièle Nouy took office as its head. And the health check for banks is underway, ahead of the European Central Bank taking on its new supervision role.
• Third, on resolution: just a week ago, the bank resolution and recovery directive, that will harmonise the rules among countries was also agreed in trialogue. And biggest of all, last night, the single resolution mechanism was agreed by the finance ministers. With its approval in the European Parliament – which I hope happens swiftly – all elements are there to make sure we have the banking union framework entirely in place by the end of this electoral cycle.

I want to underline the speed and the magnitude of this achievement. For the eurozone, it is the biggest leap forward since the creation of the euro itself. I know it means a huge deal for markets and the financial world. We are truly putting the vicious link between failing banks and government finances behind us, and this will help to get the economies going again.

Beyond that, what the Banking Union reconfirms, is the full commitment of all leaders to a strong and stable eurozone. Our political will remains intact. By the end of next year, the main elements from my reports and the report of the four presidents on getting to "a genuine EMU" will largely be in place.

In the meantime, tonight we also made significant progress on the "E" in EMU: our economic union. We have already seriously improved economic coordination, with the European Semester, the 6-pack, the 2-pack, the fiscal compact. To complete this work, tonight we discussed the future Partnerships for competitiveness, growth and jobs. The idea is to encourage key structural reforms through a balanced approach, to foster more national ownership. through mutually agreed partnerships. With more responsibility – more engagement and investment in sound economic policies –, and more solidarity – more support and financial incentives.

We identified the main features: the Partnerships will consist of mutually agreed contractual arrangements and solidarity arrangements. They need to be developed together, and this will require a bit more work. The aim is to reach final agreement on this piece of the "Economic Monetary Union puzzle" by October 2014.

Full speech

Council conclusions, 20.12.13