Schulz on the agreement on the Single Resolution Mechanism

The President of the European Parliament Martin Schulz welcomed today the agreement on the Single Resolution Mechanism.

Following a meeting with the Parliament's negotiators and political group leaders, President Martin Schulz stated:

"The compromise over the single resolution mechanism is an enormous success. This agreement is another major step towards restoring the stability of the euro zone and making it more immune to the crisis in the future. We need a strong banking union to break the negative feedback loop between sovereign debt and the health of the banking sector.

The group leaders agreed, with an overwhelming majority, to advise their members to endorse the compromise.

Three major points were considered as key improvements from the beginning of the negotiations.

First, the decision-making process and the governance were greatly streamlined making it possible to resolve a bank over the week-end. The decision making process is now not only speedier, but it is also a truly European one allowing for a fair treatment of all banks, whatever their country of origin.

Secondly, the rapid mutualisation covering 60% of the resources in the first two years and the remaining mutualisation in the following six years was hard-fought, but a decent and fair deal.

Thirdly, the credit line from the fund - highly disputed between the Council and the Parliament - is a real step forward.

If you compare these achievements with what was tabled by the Council on 18 December last year, you can easily see how far the Parliament has come in the negotiations.

On this occasion, I would like to commend the role of the EP negotiating team, and in particular the lead-rapporteur Elisa Ferreira. I would also like to praise the President of the Eurogroup Jeroen Dijsselbloem and the Greek Council Presidency, for their cooperative style in the negotiations and their respect for the European Parliament's position. This approach was conducive to a successful agreement."