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(Hosted by the BBA and organised by the CSFI – with Graham Bishop and Simona Amati of Kreab)
“State of the Union 2015 - Time for Honesty, Unity and Solidarity” reinforced the `roadmap’ laid out in the June `Five Presidents Report’ towards more convergence.In particular, the President committed to a plan for a common deposit insurance scheme - but based on re-insurance. The necessity had been underlined by the run of Greek bank depositors who - naturally enough - did not believe the credibility of the Greek Government guarantee on their deposits. Juncker also reiterated his call for a European Treasury that would be accountable at the European level. Unsurprisingly, the Five President’s report had triggered a number of calls for greater integration from France (call for a eurozone government) and Italy (straight towards political union).
On Brexit, Juncker stressed his commitment to a fair deal for Britain - but one that had to be fair to the other 27. However, the well-connected Open Europe think-tank published a report on the safeguards that Britain wants for the euro `outs’. However, their list included several items that appear to require fundamental change to the `Treaty’ and that may prove very difficult to get agreed in the near future. These `demands’ include removing the Treaty commitment to all EU members (except UK/DK) eventually using the euro; reducing to three the number of non-euro states who could demand a halt to specific measures and a change in the Council voting rules.
Full article available for consultancy clients here