Today, the European Union signed an agreement with Montenegro on border management cooperation between Montenegro and the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex). The agreement was signed on behalf of the EU by Dimitris Avramopoulos, Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship and, Maria Ohisalo, Minister of the Interior of Finland and President of the Council, and on behalf of Montenegro by Minister of the Interior, Mevludin Nuhodžić.

Dimitris Avramopoulos, Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship said: “Today, we are further strengthening our border cooperation with Montenegro, taking yet one more step towards bringing the Western Balkan region closer to the EU. The migratory and security challenges we face are common and our response must be joint too.”

Maria Ohisalo, Minister of the Interior of Finland said: “The objective of this agreement is to allow Frontex to coordinate operational cooperation between EU Member states and Montenegro on the management of the borders that the European Union and Montenegro have in common. The signing of this agreement is yet another demonstration of the deepening and expanding cooperation with Montenegro. It will bring benefits for both parties, in particular in enhancing border management activities.”

This agreement allows the European Border and Coast Guard Agency to assist Montenegro in border management, carry out joint operations and deploy teams in the regions of Montenegro that border the EU, subject to Montenegro’s agreement.

These activities aim at tackling irregular migration, in particular sudden changes in migratory flows, and cross-border crime, and can involve the provision of increased technical and operational assistance at the border.

Strengthened cooperation between priority third countries and the European Border and Coast Guard will contribute to tackling irregular migration and further enhance security at the EU’s external borders.

Next steps

The draft decision on the conclusion of the agreement was sent to the European Parliament, which needs to give its consent for the agreement to be concluded.

Background

Today’s status agreement is the second such agreement to be concluded with a partner country, after a similar agreement was signed with Albania in October 2018. Negotiations with Montenegro were concluded on 5 July 2018 and the draft status agreement was initialled by Commissioner Avramopoulos and Montenegro Interior Minister Mevludin Nuhodžić in February 2019. The Council then authorised the signature of the agreement on 19 March 2019.

Similar status agreements have also been initialled with North Macedonia (July 2018), Serbia (September 2018) and Bosnia and Herzegovina (January 2019) and are pending finalisation.

The European Border and Coast Guard launched the first-ever joint operation on the territory of a neighbouring non-EU country in Albania on 22 May this year.

The European Border and Coast Guard Agency can carry out deployments and joint operations on the territory of neighbouring non-EU countries, subject to the prior conclusion of a status agreement between the European Union and the country concerned.

Earlier this year, following a proposal by the European Commission, the European Parliament and the Council agreed to reinforce the European Border and Coast Guard. This will allow for joint operations and deployments to take place in countries beyond the EU’s immediate neighbourhood.

Cooperation with third countries is an important element of the European integrated border management concept. This concept is applied through a four-tier access model which includes: measures in third countries, measures with neighbouring third countries, border control measures and measures within the Schengen area.

For More Information

Status agreement between the EU and Montenegro on actions carried out by the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) in Montenegro

Press release: European Border and Coast Guard: Agreement reached on operational cooperation with Montenegro

Employment grew by 19% in capital city regions in the EU’s largest Member States between 2002 and 2017, compared to 10-12% in other domestic regions. This employment growth has been reflected in the growing national economic weight of capital regions, with cities such as London, Paris and Stockholm accounting for 30% and more of the GDP of their respective countries. These findings from the 2019 European Jobs Monitor which analyses shifts in the employment structure in 130 regions in nine larger Member States (accounting for nearly four out of five EU workers), confirm that, while the EU has been successful in reducing economic disparities between Member States, inequalities between regions within countries have increased in recent years.

Capital city regions in particular have benefitted from the ‘services shift’ and from globalisation, generating a disproportionate share of new well-paid employment across the EU. Just over 70% of employment is now in services, but this share rises to 85% and above in many capital regions – with a skew in particular to highly paid sectors such as financial services, professional services and information and communication.

At the same time, capital city regions also appear to be a significant vector of employment polarisation, with high shares of well-paid, high-skilled employment in knowledge-intensive services accompanied by increasing share of low-paid employment.

Looking at measures that can help to create more regionally balanced employment growth within Member States, the report highlights that the increasingly digital and location-independent nature of much work, enabled by universal high-quality broadband availability, can help to redress the situation. However, it also observes that good-quality employment – which could, in principle, often be carried out remotely or virtually – has in practice tended to cluster more and not less in large, urban, and often capital city, regions.

The report also notes that regional mobility has traditionally been seen as an antidote to unbalanced regional growth, with individuals motivated to transfer from declining regions to higher growth ones. Although this can be an important safety-valve, it can also run the risk of making unfavoured regions even more ‘left behind’, with depleted human capital.

The need for labour market and economic integration is just as great for regions as individuals, notably those regions beset by industrial decline or depopulation. As recent voting data in many countries shows, neglected regions can wield more power electorally as their economies weaken. Balanced and sustainable employment and economic growth across regions remains a challenge not just for the Member States but for the EU as a whole.

The new report ‘European Jobs Monitor 2019: Shifts in the employment structure at regional level’ is a joint Eurofound-European Commission Joint Research Centre publication. The main regional analysis in the report focuses on the following nine member states – Belgium, Germany, UK, France, Italy, Poland, Czechia, Sweden and Spain; 130 regions in total.

Today’s updates include DVC data and calculations for the period 1 September 2018 to 31 August 2019 as well as updates to already published DVC periods.

The number of new breaches is 75: 63 equities for the 8% cap, applicable to all trading venues, and 12 equities for the 4% cap, that applies to individual trading venues. Trading under the waivers for all new instruments in breach of the DVC thresholds should be suspended from 10 October 2019 to 9 April 2020. The instruments for which caps already existed from previous periods will continue to be suspended.

In addition, ESMA highlights that none of the previously identified breaches of the caps proved to be incorrect thus no previously identified suspensions of trading under the waivers had to be lifted.

As of 7 October 2019, there is a total of 376 instruments suspended.

Please be aware that ESMA does not update DVC files older than 6 months.

As also announced today in ESMA public statement on the “Use of UK data in ESMA databases ”, in case of a no-deal Brexit, ESMA will not perform the DVC calculations in November and December 2019 due to concerns about potential disruptions of the ESMA IT-systems after Brexit. The DVC calculations would be resumed in January 2020.

Background

MiFID II introduced the DVC to limit the amount of dark trading in equities allowed under the reference price waiver and the negotiated transaction waiver. The DVC is calculated per instrument (ISIN) based on the rolling average of trading in that instrument over the last 12 months.

The Q&As provide clarifications in relation to the requirements for submission of reference data and transactions under MiFIR. In particular, the Q&As relate to reporting of FX forward financial instruments under art. 26 and art. 27 of MiFIR.

The Q&A on national client identifiers for natural persons provides an update on how different national identifiers specified in Annex II of RTS 22 are represented, in particular the amendments are related to the new provisions for Portuguese and Romanian national client identifiers.

The amendments to the existing Q&A on MiFIR data reporting becomes effective from 07 October 2019.

The purpose of this Q&A is to promote common supervisory approaches and practices in the application of MiFIR. It provides guidance to Investment Firms, Trading Venues, ARMs and Systematic Internalisers on compliance with the reporting provisions of MiFIR.

ESMA will periodically review these Q&A and update them where required.

ESMA initiated a systematic analysis of the potential impact of a no-deal Brexit for EU securities markets and for ESMA as an organisation, when it was preparing for a potential no deal scenario on 29 March 2019 and 12 April 2019, and communicated to the market on its contingency planning.

On 10 April 2019, the European Council (Council) agreed a further extension to Brexit until 31 October 2019 to allow for the ratification of the Withdrawal Agreement by both Parties. If the Withdrawal Agreement fails to be ratified and no further extension is agreed by the Council, the UK will leave the EU on 31 October 23:00 (UK time).

The reference date for Brexit in all of ESMA’s previously published measures and actions, including public statements, issued regarding the possibility of a no-deal Brexit scenario, should now be read as 31 October 2019. The full list of statements and measures issued previously is available on ESMA’s website and also included in the annex to this statement.

Some of the measures announced need updating in case of a no-deal Brexit on 31 October 2019, so ESMA is issuing today updated measures in the following areas:

–       Use of UK data in ESMA databases and performance of MiFID II calculations updating the communication issued on 5 February 2019[1]

–       Impact of no-deal Brexit on MiFID II/MiFIR and the Benchmark Regulation (BMR) – C(6) carve-out, ESMA opinions on third-country trading venues for the purpose of post-trade transparency and position limits, post-trade transparency for OTC transactions, BMR ESMA register of administrators and 3rd country benchmarks calculations updating the communication issued on 7 March 2019[2]

–       Operational plans related to ESMA databases and IT systems updating the communication issued on 19 March 2019[3]

Next steps

There is still a high level of uncertainty as to the final timing and conditions of Brexit, and should these change, ESMA will adjust the approach for its IT applications and databases and will inform the public of the adjusted approach as soon as possible.

[1] Public Statement – Use of UK data in ESMA databases and performance of MiFID II calculations in case of a no-deal Brexit

[2] Public Statement – Impact of Brexit on MiFID II/MiFIR and the Benchmark Regulation (BMR) – C(6) carve-out, trading obligation for derivatives, ESMA opinions on third-country trading venues for the purpose of post-trade transparency and position limits, post-trade transparency and position limits, post-trade transparency for OTC transactions, BMR ESMA register of administrators and 3rd country benchmarks provisions under a no deal Brexit

[3] Public Statement – ESMA’s Data Operational Plan under a no-deal Brexit Scenario on 29 March