Economic and Financial Affairs Council, 16/06/2017, 16 June 2017

Main results

Banking

The Council agreed its stance on part of a package of proposals aimed at reducing risk in the banking industry.

The texts relate to the ranking of unsecured debt instruments in insolvency proceedings and transitional arrangements to phase in the regulatory capital impact of the IFRS 9 international accounting standard.

They also provide for a phase-out of provisions on the large exposures treatment of public sector debt denominated in non-domestic EU currencies.

"These proposals set out to help make our banks more resilient to shocks in the light of new prudential standards agreed at international level. We have decided to make these texts a priority and hope the Parliament will be able to start negotiating by the end of this year", said Edward Scicluna, minister for finance of Malta, which currently holds the Council presidency.

Excessive deficit procedure - Economic and fiscal policies

The Council closed excessive deficit procedures for Croatia and Portugal, confirming their deficits have dropped below the EU's 3% of GDP reference value.

As a consequence, only four of the EU's 28 member states remain subject to excessive deficit procedures, continuing the positive trend since 2011.

The Council also approved its 2017 country-specific recommendations to the member states on their economic and fiscal policies.