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The Council was briefed on the follow-up to the Commissions’ financial services action plan and stressed that that Member States must play their role by transposing and implementing the agreed FSAP texts on time and EU regulators and supervisors must be given the necessary supervisory powers and assist in ensuring consistent day-to-day application and supervision of the rules. Member States should also carry out impact assessments on substantive Council amendments to legislative proposals.
Internal Market Commissioner Charlie McCreevy told the Economic Affairs and Finance Ministers that he expects to present the Commission's Final Policy Programme on the financial services policy for the next five years in the form of a White Paper, which will be published in November. In the next five years, there will only be a limited number of well-targeted new initiatives. These will focus on three areas: investment funds, retail financial services and (possibly) clearing and settlement. The White Paper will take into account stakeholders' views and the Council conclusions will be highly relevant in this context.
The Council finally also endorsed the conclusions of a paper assessing the desirability of greater involvement of Ecofin in the preparation of EU-United States summits as regards economic and financial issues. The paper was prepared by the United Kingdom presidency in cooperation with the future Austrian and Finnish presidencies with the aim of promoting an ongoing involvement of Ecofin Council representatives in these processes.