Documents Lannoo, Karel 9 results

"It is no understatement to categorise the UK's decision to leave the European Union as one of the biggest geopolitical events in modern European history. On 23 June 2016, a slight majority of 52% of the UK's voting citizens decided to opt for isolationism and protectionism over globalisation and the free movement of goods, services and people. The European project has never suffered a setback like this, and questions over the very future of the project must be asked in the wake of this reality in which one of the EU's major powers has decided to opt out. Although history is currently being rewritten with the benefi t of hindsight, portraying Brexit as an inescapable inevitability since the UK fi rst entered the EEC in 1973, it is important to remember how much of a shock the result was at the time. While it is too soon to expect detailed studies on the full consequences of Brexit, the situation can be analysed using the data we already have: the economic and legal framework that exists between the UK and the EU. Through this lens, we can look at the possible future relationship between the two actors and perhaps better understand how they grew apart. This Forum examines Brexit from a variety of angles, ranging from London's status as the fi nancial centre of Europe to intra-EU migration to the very future of the European project."

"This study focuses on the crossroads between digitalisation and direct cross-border activity. More specifically, it assesses whether and to what extent digitalisation can contribute to the creation of a true single market for retail financial services and non-life insurance. This research was carried out by a team of researchers from CEPS, headed by CEPS Research Fellow Sylvain Bouyon, in cooperation with the University College Cork (UCC) and the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST)."

"The financial and economic crises have led to an enormous plumbing exercise, involving a fundamental re-design of the global and European regulatory and supervisory system. This book systematically assesses the big items on the G-20 and EU agendas and the effectiveness with which they have been implemented in the EU. Its publication coincides with the demand by European Commissioner Jonathan Hill, in the context of the Capital Markets Union, for a 'comprehensive review' of the impact and coherence of EU legislation in the area of financial services.

Karel Lannoo argues in the book that much has been done by European policy-makers to make the financial system safer and to prevent banking crises of the magnitude that erupted in 2008 and 2011, but that the new framework puts an enormous burden on banks and supervisors to implement and enforce it correctly. With the huge amount of secondary or 'level-2' legislation in place, this process has spiralled out of control, and as member states always find new ways of ‘gold-plating' EU rules, the EU always finds further reasons to achieve a 'single rulebook'. This process has to be brought to a halt, and mutual recognition, a basic single-market principle, reinforced.

The new framework also brings huge advantages, which should offer benefits to all parties. Banking Union is a huge step forward, which introduces 'one-stop shopping' for banks in the eurozone, another basic single market principle, and a true single supervisor. The clarity of the new resolution framework should, if correctly applied, trigger early intervention and bring an end to forbearance, thereby enforcing market discipline in the banking sector. It should also avoid reliance on taxpayers' money to bail-out banks in trouble, which totalled 14% of EU GDP during the crisis."

"Now that the EU's post-pandemic recovery programme is on course, the priority should be to increase private sector investments. The two main pillars of the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), a key component of the Next Generation EU (NGEU) programme, are green and digital. Although the EU is taking the global lead on the green transition and is putting a solid policy framework in place, it is lagging in the digital transformation, with significant gaps remaining across Member States. For the EU to deliver the twin transition to a green and digital economy, and mobilise the necessary resources to get there, market financing – which is much less developed compared to international peers – should be developed further. This will advance the green transition, cement Europe's Green lead, and advance digitalisation.

This policy brief starts by reviewing the implementation of the NGEU programme thus far, and the take-up and allocation of funds at Member State level. It then discusses the expected impact of the plan based on past experience under similar programmes, and how the European Commission (EC) will ensure good use of the money. It continues by examining NGEU's transition towards private sector financing, and what is required to achieve this. Finally, it concludes with some policy recommendations."