Work continues towards a consolidated trading landscape for financial instruments in the EU
Today, the Expert Stakeholder Group set up under the Regulation governing rules about markets in financial instruments (‘MiFIR Review’) published reports on the main parameters of EU consolidated tapes. Consolidated tapes are centralised data feeds that bring together the prices and volumes of financial instruments, such as shares and bonds, from hundreds of trading venues across all Member States into a single stream of information, equally accessible for everybody.
The reports contain a set of recommendations focused on key pre-conditions for the tapes to emerge, such as the quality of data to be transmitted to and disseminated by consolidated tape providers, as well as the timeline for disclosing the trading information around bonds and derivatives.
The recommendations will feed into the ongoing work by the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) and the European Commission to develop the technical meas
ures needed for the creation of the tapes.
Addressing the fragmented EU trading landscape will enhance the competitiveness, integration and efficiency of EU financial markets and drive forward the Savings and Investment Union. By providing near real-time information on pricing conditions across EU venues, consolidated tapes empower users to make better informed decisions. They also improve competition by driving trading to trading venues with better prices and better liquidity, ultimately enhancing visibility for companies seeking funding.
Commissioner for Financial Services, Financial Stability and Capital Markets Union, Mairead McGuinness, said: ‘The consolidated tape can be a significant step towards advancing the Savings and Investments Union, making markets more attractive and easier to navigate for EU and international investors, provided we put in place all the technical measures necessary to remove the remaining barriers. I would like to thank the members of the expert group for providing clear reco
mmendations to make this happen. We will now carefully consider their proposals together with ESMA.’
(For more information: Francesca Dalboni – Tel.: +32 229 88170, Marta Perez-Cejuela Romero Tel.: +32 2 296 37 70)
Fit for Future Platform made significant contributions to simplifying and modernising EU law over its four-year mandate
Today, the Commission’s Fit for Future Platform, a high-level expert group composed of stakeholders and representatives of all Member States, held its final plenary meeting under it’s current mandate.
The Platform consists of a high-level expert group of national, regional and local authorities, civil society organisations, businesses and members of the RegHub network of the Committee of the Regions. It was set up in 2020 to complement the Commission’s regulatory simplification work.
Over the course of its four-year mandate, the Platform has adopted 41 opinions, containing some 260 specific suggestions to help the European Commission to simplify and modernise EU laws and to r
educe related unnecessary burdens for citizens and businesses.
Achievements of the Fit for Future Platform in 2024
In 2024, the Platform put forward suggestions on simplifying and streamlining EU legislation, reducing regulatory burdens, notably on reporting requirements, further digitalisation, better enforcement and implement ability of EU laws and programmes.
The opinions on organic production and labelling of organic products and on unfair trading practices in the food supply chain proposed several suggestions to streamline the complex acquis, eliminate double reporting and bring in more transparency, clarity and legal certainty.
Digitalisation potential was raised in various opinions but was most prominent in the opinion on QR codes on products. Such QR codes would address horizontal aspects and guiding principles related to labelling requirements.
The Platform continued to play an important role in helping the Commission to deliver on the objective of reducing burden coming from reporting obligatio
ns by 25%. In 2024, it produced 3 opinions on this topic:
Automated sustainability reporting: suggesting improvements in the quality, accessibility and exchange of data needed to report on sustainability;
Actions and methodology to avoid the build-up of unnecessary reporting obligations: suggesting horizontal ideas to avoid that the reporting burdens keep increasing and to help stakeholders comply with them efficiently;
Sustainable Finance Disclosures Regulation: suggesting ways to make financial disclosure less burdensome and more meaningful.
The Platform also provided substantial evidence and valuable insights to the evaluations of several European funds, including the implementation of the European Social Fund Plus, the European Regional Development Fund, the Just Transition Fund and the Cohesion Fund.
Background
Over its four-year mandate, the Platform has greatly contributed to making EU laws fit for the future helping increase coherence and transparency and improve implementation and enforcement.
Through its recommendations, the Platform contributed to many Commission initiatives like, amongst others, the Late Payments Directive, the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation, the Gigabit Infrastructure Act, the Interoperable Europe Act, the Banking Union package and the Listing Act, and the VAT in the Digital Age proposal.
For more information
Factsheet
Political Priorities of the 2019-2024 von der Leyen Commission
Fit for Future Platform
The Better Regulation agenda
REFIT – Making EU law simpler, less costly and future proof
REFIT Scoreboard
Quote(s)
Over the past four years, the Fit for Future Platform has delivered valuable input to the Commission’s simplification and burden reduction agenda. Through the collective efforts of its members and its 41 opinions and 260 specific suggestions, the Platform has also helped us future-proof EU regulations, to anticipate and embrace emerging trends, technologies, and societal changes. As the Platform concludes its mandate, its legacy will continu
e to inspire future efforts to simplify and modernise EU legislation, and this will remain high on the Commission’s agenda.
Maroš Šefcovic, Executive Vice-President for European Green Deal, Interinstitutional Relations and Foresight
Cooperation on screening of foreign direct investments strengthens EU security
EU Member States and the Commission are strengthening their cooperation on identifying and addressing investments from third countries that threaten EU security or public order, according to a Commission report published today.
The 4th Annual Report on the screening of foreign direct investments (FDI) into the Union observes that the number of notifications to the EU cooperation mechanism increased by 18% since the EU framework was put in place in 2020.
The Report highlights the increased levels of attention being paid to the risks that certain investments from third countries may present to the security or public order in the EU and/or to EU projects and programmes of common interest. In addition,
it showcases the growth in the number of Member States now screening foreign investment.
The European Commission’s recourse to detailed assessment has remained targeted and limited to exceptional cases: of the 488 cases notified in 2023, the vast majority (92%) were closed by the Commission within 15 days, while just 8% required a so-called second phase involving a more detailed security assessment.
The EU continues to be an open global investment environment. This is further confirmed by a positive cumulative trend of foreign investment into the EU over the past decade, the Report shows.
Screening has been particularly relevant in 2023 in the face of heightened geopolitical tensions and growing awareness of issues linked to economic security, which culminated in a Joint Communication setting out the EU’s first Economic Security Strategy.
National screening mechanisms, collective security
Over the past four years, the European Commission has successfully encouraged Member States to adopt and implement ef
fective national screening mechanisms to protect the collective security of the EU, its Member States, and EU projects and programmes of common interest. After six more Member States enacted relevant legislation in 2023, 24 EU Member States currently have screening mechanisms in place, with the remaining three (Croatia, Cyprus and Greece) having taken concrete steps to this effect.
As a result, more than 1,500 transactions have been notified by Member States to the EU cooperation mechanism since the EU Regulation’s entry into force in 2020. At the same time, the Report notes that not all Member States are notifying transactions at the same rate – in 2023, 85% of notifications came from seven Member States.
Over the first years of operation and undertaken comprehensive evaluation, it has been possible to identify shortcomings of the current system. These are addressed by the Commission in its legislative proposal presented in January 2024 for the revision of the Regulation. The proposal, currently in the han
ds of the Council of the EU and the European Parliament, would make it mandatory for all EU Member States to have a FDI screening mechanism in place and would introduce a minimum level of harmonization of national screening laws across the EU, as well as ensure procedural improvements to the cooperation mechanism.
Background
The FDI Screening Regulation, which entered into force in October 2020, allows EU Member States to review foreign investments in their territory on grounds of security and public order, and also to take measures to address specific risks. The Regulation has also created a cooperation mechanism between the European Commission and Member State screening authorities, allowing for the exchange of information on individual FDI transactions in one Member State to identify possibly security or public order risks for other Member States or for EU-level programmes.
For More Information
4th Annual Report on the screening of FDI into the EU
Staff Working Document
Investment Screening in the EU
Factsheet on Revision of FDI Regulation
Quote(s)
The EU is open to foreign direct investment, but this openness must go hand in hand with preparedness to address new and emerging risks to our security and public order. Over the years, in the wider context of growing geopolitical tensions, EU cooperation on FDI screening has been going from strength to strength. FDI screening has become a critical part of our broader Economic Security Strategy. This 4th Annual Report is further evidence to the increasing importance of the EU cooperation in assessing and addressing risks to our collective security.
Valdis Dombrovskis, Executive Vice-President and Commissioner for Trade
New rules to boost cybersecurity of EU’s critical entities and networks
The Commission has adopted today the first implementing rules on cybersecurity of critical entities and networks under the Directive on measures for high common level of cybersecurity across the Union (NIS2 Directive). This implementing act details cybersecurity risk man
agement measures as well as the cases in which an incident should be considered significant and companies providing digital infrastructures and services should report it to national authorities. This is another major step in boosting the cyber resilience of Europe’s critical digital infrastructure.
The implementing regulation adopted today will apply to specific categories of companies providing digital services, such as cloud computing service providers, data centre service providers, online marketplaces, online search engines and social networking platforms, to name a few. For each category of service providers, the implementing act specifies when an incident is considered significant, to whom it needs to be reported and in which timeframe.
Today’s adoption of the implementing regulation coincides with the deadline for Member States to transpose the NIS2 Directive into national law. As of tomorrow, 18 October 2024, all Member States must apply the measures necessary to comply with the NIS2 cybersecurity r
ules, including supervisory and enforcement measures.
Next Steps
The implementing regulation will be published in the Official Journal in due course and enter into force 20 days thereafter.
Background
The first EU-wide law on cybersecurity, the NIS Directive, came into force in 2016 and helped to achieve a common level of security of network and information systems across the EU. As part of its key policy objective to make Europe fit for the digital age, the Commission proposed the revision of the NIS Directive in December 2020. After entering in force in January 2023, Member States had to transpose the NIS2 Directive into national law by 17 October 2024.
The NIS2 Directive aims to ensure a high level of cybersecurity across the Union. It covers entities operating in sectors that are critical for the economy and society, including providers of public electronic communications services, ICT service management, digital services, wastewater and waste management, space, health, energy, transport, manufacturi
ng of critical products, postal and courier services and public administration.
The Directive strengthens security requirements imposed on the companies and addresses the security of supply chains and supplier relationships. It streamlines reporting obligations, introduces more stringent supervisory measures for national authorities, as well as stricter enforcement requirements, and aims at harmonising sanctions regimes across Member States. It will help increase information sharing and cooperation on cyber crisis management at a national and EU level.
For More Information
Implementing Act
Factsheet on the Directive on measures for high common level of cybersecurity across the Union (NIS2)
Questions and Answers on NIS2: New EU Cybersecurity Strategy and new rules to make physical and digital critical entities more resilient
Quote(s)
Cybersecurity is one of the main building blocks for the protection of our citizens and our infrastructure. In today’s cybersecurity landscape, stepping up our capabilities
, security requirements and rapid information sharing with up-to-date rules is of paramount importance. I urge the remaining Member States to implement these rules at national level as fast as possible to ensure that the services which are critical for our societies and economies are cyber secure.
Margrethe Vestager, Executive Vice-President for a Europe Fit for the Digital Age
CALENDAR
Monday 14 October 2024
Mr Margaritis Schinas in Greece (until 18/10): in Athens – meets with Ms Katerina Sakellaropoulou, the President of the Hellenic Republic; meets with Mr Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Prime Minister of Greece.
Wednesday 16 October 2024
Ms Stella Kyriakides delivers a keynote speech via videoconference at the European Patients Forum High-Level Policy Event, ‘Towards a patient-centred EU mandate: Health policy with and for patients’; delivers pre-recorded remarks at the ‘Ukraine-EU Integration: Healthcare’ conference organised by the Ukrainian Ministry of Health.
Friday 18 October 2024
Mr Margaritis Schinas
in Kozani, Greece: delivers a keynote speech at the ‘Science and Research Day’ event organised by the University of West Macedonia.
Saturday 19 October 2024
Ms Stella Kyriakides in Limassol, Cyprus: delivers a speech on breast cancer at the Awareness Raising Symposium.
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Source: Cyprus News Agency