ESMA begins recruitment of Chair and Members for its CCP Supervisory Committee

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the EU’s securities markets regulator, has published today two vacancy notices for the new CCP Supervisory Committee (Committee) that it is required to establish under the amended European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR 2.2). ESMA is recruiting for the position of Chair and two Independent Members of the new Committee.

The amendments to EMIR recently agreed by the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union (EU) requires that a Committee be established to carry out the tasks assigned to ESMA regarding the recognition and direct supervision of third-country CCPs, and the promotion of supervisory convergence among national competent authorities on the authorisation and supervision of EU CCPs.

 

The Committee will be composed of a Chair and two Independent Members, the competent authorities of Member States where a CCP is established and, where applicable, the central banks of issue of EU currencies.

 

The Chair and Independent Member positions are full-time posts for independent professionals who will be members of ESMA’s staff, based in Paris.



EU agencies focus on diversity and inclusion

Today the heads of the nine EU Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) agencies came together to discuss the EU’s New Strategic Agenda 2021 – 2024, cooperation efforts and ways to strengthen diversity and inclusion in the workplace.

To further their commitment, the agencies have signed a formal engagement to champion equality and ensure equal opportunities for all staff members while embracing their diversity.

The common statement highlights the importance of an inclusive corporate culture and strong diversity values to increase staff engagement and cohesion. The statement focuses on promoting:

  • Inclusive corporate culture;
  • Strengthened diversity;
  • Corporate awareness of fundamental rights and equal opportunities;
  • Countering discriminatory behaviour.

The JHA agencies have also committed to promote fundamental rights and a culture of zero tolerance to sexual harassment in the workplace.  

The nine agencies members of the JHA Agencies Network are:

  • European Asylum Support Office (EASO);
  • European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex);
  • European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE);
  • European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA);
  • European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA);
  • European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (Europol);
  • European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Training (CEPOL);
  • European Union Agency for the Operational Management of Large-Scale IT Systems in the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice (eu-LISA);
  • European Union Judicial Cooperation Unit (EUROJUST).


APA Insurance Ltd receives the 10th European Microfinance Award in recognition of its response to “Strengthening Resilience to Climate Change”

At a ceremony held at the European Investment Bank in Luxembourg, Paulette Lenert, Luxembourg Minister for Cooperation and Humanitarian Affairs, presented the 10th European Microfinance Award to APA Insurance Ltd of Kenya.

Since 2006, Luxembourg Directorate for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Affairs, the European Microfinance Platform and the Inclusive Finance Network Luxembourg have been awarding a €100,000 prize to the winner and, starting two years ago, €10,000 to the two finalists. This year’s winner, APA Insurance Ltd, is a Kenyan insurance company that provides indexbased agriculture insurance to cover yields and livestock, thus providing farmers with a safety net. Index-based insurance is an innovative approach to insurance whereby payments are linked to easily measured environmental conditions known as an “index” (e.g. the level of rainfall, yields or vegetation levels as measured by satellite) directly connected to the loss of agricultural output. When the index exceeds a particular threshold, farmers automatically receive compensation. In Kenya, where over 75% of farmers are smallholders, who are especially vulnerable to the economic impacts of climate change, APA Insurance Ltd currently covers more than 350,000 families whose livelihoods are largely based on agriculture.

While increasingly unpredictable weather conditions and climate change threaten the already precarious situations in developing countries, Minister Lenert, who chaired the High Jury of the European Microfinance Award, noted that: “This year’s Award illustrates that inclusive finance has an essential role to play in strengthening the resilience of vulnerable communities to the effects of climate change, which threaten the livelihoods of disadvantaged communities, especially those relying on agriculture, forestry or fisheries.”

Dr Hoyer, President of the European Investment Bank, emphasised that “Climate Change is an existential threat for many nations and communities. How we combat and adapt will shape our future. The three finalists of the European Microfinance Award, and APA Insurance Ltd in particular, are delivering innovative solutions for the financial sector to support vulnerable communities in tackling the effects of climate change.”

 European Microfinance Award

The only one of its kind in the world, the European Microfinance Award was launched in October 2005 by the Directorate for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Affairs of the Luxembourg Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs to nurture innovative microfinance initiatives. It is jointly organised by the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, the European Microfinance Platform (e-MFP) and the Inclusive Finance Network Luxembourg (InFiNe.lu) with the support of the European Investment bank (EIB).

http://www.european–microfinance–award.com/  

Contacts

MAEE: Laura Valli Laura.Valli@mae.etat.lu +352 247 82347 

InFiNe.lu: Catherine Van Ouytsel catherine.vanouytsel@infine.lu +352 28 37 15 09

e-MFP: Niamh Watters nwatters@e-mfp.eu +352 26 27 13 82 



ESMA moves to new premises

Starting today, all meetings will take place in the new premises. Full details regarding access are available in the Visitor handbook.

Visitor Address

ESMA

201-203 Rue de Bercy

​75012 Paris
Postal Address

ESMA

201-203 Rue de Bercy

​CS 80910

​75589 Paris Cedex 12


Changing the way the EU works: Regional parliaments launch initiative to strengthen their role in EU law-making

European Committee of the Regions to coordinate debates across regions to the EU legislative process

​The European Committee of the Regions (CoR) and the Conference of European Regional Legislative Assemblies (CALRE) launched a pilot project today to strengthen the involvement of regional parliaments with legislative competences in the EU legislative process.

The initiative “Input from political debates in regional parliaments” was launched today during the 9th Subsidiarity Conference held in the Italian Senate in Rome. The topics of the regional debates held across Europe will be used to feed the EU legislative process early on during the drafting of the annual European Commission work programme. The Committee – the EU’s assembly of local and regional governments – will oversee the project, collating input, thereby ensuring the implementation of the principle of subsidiarity and that decisions are taken as close to citizens, with the EU only acting when it is viewed as being more effective than at the national, regional or local level.

The Committee’s President Karl-Heinz Lambertz, who is also President of Belgium’s German-speaking Community Parliament, said: “This initiative fires the starting gun on involving regional parliaments’ in EU policy making at an early stage. This project comes at a perfect moment just before the EU launches its Conference on the Future of Europe to reconnect with its citizens. We need to maximise the impact of every EU law by involving the right level of government – including those closest to citizens – regions and cities – throughout the policy-making to ensure they impact on daily life. The outcome of these regional parliament debates will be shared with the European Commission and contribute to future policy-making. It is not about less Europe, but an effective Europe that delivers results, putting citizens first”.

The President of the Italian Senate Maria Elisabetta Alberti Casellati, opened the conference and stressed how urgent is for the European Union and its Member States to provide adequate answers to citizens requests of counting more in EU decisions.

The initiative was endorsed by Antonio Tajani, Chair of the European Parliament’s Committee on Constitutional Affairs: “The pilot project goes in the right direction and aims at a stronger involvement of regional parliaments in EU decision making. Regions’ role is vital in implementing EU policies ranging from agriculture to tourism, from transport to health. Regional councillors should be part of the forthcoming Conference on the future of Europe, which will be called by President von der Leyen next year. Only by involving democratically elected representatives can we bring EU institutions closer to citizens” he said.

A priority that is fully shared by the coordinator of the Italian association of the Presidents of regional councils Rosa D’Amelio: “The Legislative Assemblies of regions are ready to contribute to the process of the Conference on the future of Europe which must be the embryo of a true European public space”.

The input from regional parliaments during this project will be used to contribute to the early stage of EU decision-making. All EU regional parliaments with legislative power are welcome to participate the project “by contacting the CALRE secretariat (calre2020@parcan.es) by 24 January 2020. Participating parliaments will be selected shortly after the closing date with debates expected to take place between 1 March and 15 May 2020.

It complements another project being organised by the Committee – the Regional Hubs (RegHubs) project launched in 2019 – where 36 regions are assessing the effectiveness of a selected number of EU policies currently being implemented like public procurement and air quality.

Note for Editors:

The Subsidiarity Conference is led by the European Committee of the Regions every two years with the aim of boosting the momentum of inter-institutional subsidiarity monitoring work and allowing real dialogue between all partners involved in the subsidiarity monitoring process. The Rome event is the ninth of these conferences, each of which has been held in a different EU Member State.

Subsidiarity ensures that the EU can only act when it is more effective than the national, regional or local levels in tackling certain issues. It is about ensuring that there is sufficient added value in all the EU’s actions.

The concept of Active Subsidiarity is a new way of working that takes the traditional approach to subsidiarity a step further. It encourages all institutional, national and sub-national actors to contribute constructively to improving the added value of EU legislation throughout the policymaking cycle. The Active Subsidiarity approach was proposed by the CoR during the Task Force on Subsidiarity, Proportionality and Doing Less More Efficiently established by the current European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker in November 2017 and chaired by Vice-President Frans Timmermans. The concept of Active Subsidiarity was taken up in the European Commission’s Communication on the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality in October 2018 .