Omnibus II package agreed – comments by Sharon Bowles MEP
Omnibus II package agreed - comments by Sharon Bowles MEP
Yesterday's final trialogue on Omnibus II lasted for over 8 hours and late into the night. Presided over by Sharon Bowles MEP, Chair of the European Parliament's Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee, a provisional deal has been agreed with Member States.
Omnibus II will amend the Solvency II Framework Directive, to bring it in line with the EU's Lisbon Treaty and to take account of the EU's new supervisory structure.
Commenting, Sharon Bowles MEP, said:
"This is a good day for the European insurance industry, for EIOPA, and for the European Parliament. This agreement opens the door for EIOPA to take on responsibility for the regulation of the European insurance industry as envisaged by MEPs when EIOPA was originally created.
"With agreement on Parliament's main demands, we have managed to ensure a more sound and prudential system for the future of insurance which addresses in particular our concerns around the controls and monitoring of long-term guarantee measures.
"In order to ensure that European insurance companies are not at a disadvantage if based abroad, particularly in the USA, the Parliament's innovative proposal on provisional equivalence for a renewable 10 year period was accepted by Council.
"Finally, we secured agreement on a number of important inter-institutional issues in this file for the European Parliament, including ensuring that Council show how they have adjusted their national legislation in accordance with EU law."
ENDS