EU Insight, 17 March 2020

COMMISSION CALLS FOR COORDINATED AND GRADUAL LIFTING OF CONTAINMENT MEASURES

The European Commission published a Communication on a European roadmap towards lifting COVID-19 containment measures. Overall, the Commission put forward seven recommendations and proposes three main criteria that Member States should assess when relaxing confinement measures: i) a significant decrease of the spread of the virus for a sustained period of time, ii) sufficient health system capacity, and iii) large-scale testing capacity to detect and monitor the spread of the virus. The Communication also states that the lifting of confinement measures should be accompanied by measures to avoid further deterioration of the crisis. The European Council will discuss the Communication next week.

COMMISSION PRESENTS PAN-EUROPEAN APPROACH TO COVID-19 MOBILE APPS

The European Commission presented its toolbox for a pan-European approach for officially recognised COVID-19 mobile applications, along with guidance on data protection and privacy. The document sets out a detailed list of baseline requirements and functionalities for contact tracing apps and warning apps only. The requirements are divided into four parts: i) essential requirements covering the epidemiological framework, technical functionalities, cross-border interoperability and cybersecurity, ii) measures aimed to ensure accessibility and inclusiveness, iii) requirements for public authorities covering the approval of tracing apps and their access to data generated by tracing apps; and iv) supporting actions including sharing epidemiological in-formation.

EU AND UK TO RESUME TALKS NEXT WEEK

This week, EU Chief Negotiator Michel Barnier and UK Chief Negotiator David Frost spoke via videoconference. The discussion came following the postponement of several rounds of negotiation on the future Free Trade Agreement (FTA) due to the COVID-19 crisis. During their discussion, both negotiators agreed dates for further negotiating rounds lasting a full week. These are the weeks commencing w/c 20 April, w/c 11 May and w/c 1 June. Both sides agreed on the need to make real, tangible progress in the negotiations by June. The high-level meeting between both sides foreseen for June will take stock of the progress made.

ECB GRANTS TEMPORARY RELIEF FOR CAPITAL REQUIREMENTS FOR MARKET RISK

The European Central Bank (ECB) announced a temporary reduction in capital requirements for market risk by allowing banks to adjust the supervisory component of these requirements. This follows previous announcements by the ECB, which provided capital and operational relief measures to the banking sector in the context of the COVID-19 outbreak. With this decision, the ECB aims to maintain banks’ ability to provide market liquidity and to continue market-making activities. As such, the ECB decided to reduce the so-called qualitative market risk multiplier, which is set by supervisors and is used to compensate for the possible underestimation by banks of their capital requirements for market risk.

COMMISSION CONSULTS ON SUSTAINABLE FINANCE BENCHMARK CRITERIA

The European Commission launched a public consultation on the three Delegated Acts related to ESG and low carbon benchmarks, as mandated by the Benchmark Regulation. The Delegated Acts i) require benchmark providers to provide information on how they take ESG criteria into consideration, ii) introduce criteria for benchmark statements to determine to what extent statements comply with the Paris Climate Agreement and iii) introduce minimum standards to help benchmark administrators design climate transition and EU Paris-aligned benchmarks. Following stakeholder feedback, the Commission will adopt the final draft Delegated Acts and launch the scrutiny period for the Parliament and Council.

COMING UP NEXT WEEK

• 21 April: Video conference of sports ministers. On the agenda: impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the sport sector.
• 22 April: Video conference of foreign affairs.
• 22 April: Video conference of ministers for European affairs.
• 23 April: Video conference of the members of the European Council. On the agenda: EU’s response to COVID-19 pandemic, EU roadmap towards lifting containment measures, EU exit and recovery strategy.

Karl Isaksson, Managing Partner Brussels, Kreab