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EU Parliament agrees to new financial supervisory authority at European level. In future, it will control banks, financial markets and the insurance industry.

On Wednesday, the European Parliament (EP) voted by an overwhelming majority for the overhaul of the European financial supervisory authority, which will serve as an effective instrument for the early identification of future risks and for a common approach to  crisis prevention.

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Two weeks ago, Banking Supervisors and Governors of National Banks from 27 countries put together the so-called Basel III package. This package includes a bundle of measures aimed at the stricter regulation of banks to ensure long-term financial market stability. In future, higher capital and liquidity requirements shall also prevent financial institutes from shifting losses to the state and thereby to the taxpayer. According to experts, this time the USA will also be on board.

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A public hearing of the European Commission in Brussels this week was concerned with experiences made so far with the deregulation of stock markets, whereby the dogma of deregulated markets was quietly buried. The Commission also showed a willingness to learn in respect of regulating the commodity markets; however, once again significantly later than the USA.

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The European Commission intends to present a Communication, which will inform about the Commission's vision on the future of public services before the end of the year. Therefore, representatives of the European Parliament, the Commission, the Belgian Presidency and civil society recently discussed which rules should apply to services of general interest.

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Two years after the collapse of the fourth-largest US investment bank Lehman Brothers, the Commission this week presented in Brussels two cornerstones of its ideas on regulating the financial markets. Off-exchange derivatives, short selling and credit default swaps are to be reigned in at last.

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2010 is not least for Europe's young people a crisis year. On EU-average, 20 % of the under- 25-s do not find a job; the rate in Spain even lies at 40 %. In view of these figures, the European Commission too recognises the urgency of measures and presented on Wednesday the Europe 2020 flagship initiative Youth on the move.

In spite of some welcome ideas, it is questionable whether the idea is suitable to solve the problem of youth unemployment in a sustainable and satisfactory manner.

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In the European Parliament this week, within the scope of the European Year of Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion, a conference took place concerning the introduction of an EU Directive on minimum income. The Belgium Presidency regards this issue as one of its priorities. An idea, which so far has not aroused much enthusiasm with the Member States and the EU Commission.

Shall an EU Framework Directive guarantee a minimum income?

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This week, Juan Pablo Corlazzoli presented the results of a study on the human rights situation in Colombia in the Human Rights Committee of the European Parliament. The conclusions, which were drawn from the study, were more than sobering: whilst a number of murders of trade unionists are hardly mentioned in the study, its author recommends the conclusion of a Free Trade Agreement by the EU with Colombia. Many of the MEPs voiced harsh criticism.

The Free Trade Agreement between the European Union and Colombia was supposed to have been signed some months ago.

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The average economic growth of the EU Member States in 2010 will be significantly higher than originally expected. This is the tenor of a revised interim report, which was presented by Olli Rehn, EU Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Policy, on Monday.

Four times a year, the Commission publishes a forecast of the economic development of the EU resp. the Euro area; the main focus in both interim reports being on inflation and the GDP. Concerning the latter, one now expects growth of 1.8 % for 2010; previously 1 % had been forecast.

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The Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) this week was dominated by possible financial market reforms. The Financial Transaction Tax (FTT) was for the first time officially on the agenda of the ECOFIN. The EU Finance Ministers are still far away from any agreement. The ECOFIN was accompanied by a demonstration in front of the Council Building led by a group of supporters of the Financial Transaction Tax.

The position of the participating EU institutions is still not clear.

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