Steven Maijoor delivers keynote speech at ESMA 10th Anniversary Conference

Today, Steven Maijoor, Chair of the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), addressed representatives from EU institutions, supervisors and other stakeholders at the ESMA 10th Anniversary Conference – inspiring confidence in Europe’s financial markets.

Mr. Maijoor’s speech covered the early expectations for ESMA in 2011, and the areas in which ESMA has progressively strengthened its role within the European and international regulatory community. In addition, he underlined a forward-looking message based on the confidence that Europe’s financial markets are better supported by an effective regulatory and supervisory system to face crisis situations.

ESMA will achieve this through assessing risks to investors, markets and financial stability, completing the single rulebook, promoting supervisory convergence and the execution of its direct supervisory mandates.

The speech closed a landmark event for ESMA, following an afternoon which focused on ESMA’s achievements, and its contribution towards investor protection and orderly and stable financial markets, but also, importantly, on the future of European capital markets.

More information on the event and speakers here.

Further information:

Dan Nacu-Manole

Communications Officer

✆ +33 (0)1 58 36 52 06

@ press@esma.europa.eu

Press release – MEPs continue to firmly condemn human rights abuses in China

“We take note of the decision by the Chinese authorities to impose sanctions in retaliation to the Council’s decision of 22 March to impose sanctions on four Chinese officials and one entity.

The Subcommittee on Human Rights has a duty to monitor the human rights situation across the world and to promote and protect these rights in accordance with the values and objectives on which the European Union is founded, namely, the principle of universality of human rights. We believe that China’s measures aim to undermine our work.

We wish to express our solidarity with other parliamentarians, European universities, think tanks and academics who have also been targeted by these sanctions.

Regarding the situation in China, we reiterate our serious concerns about the abuses in the country, in particular the persecution of the Uighur minority in the province of Xinjiang, and the repression of all dissenting and opposition voices. We firmly condemn these acts and the Chinese government’s recent attempts to interfere in the democratic life of our nations and our European Union.

As elected Members of the European Parliament, we will continue to actively denounce human rights violations and breaches of international law, and to urge the EU to keep the respect of human rights at the core of all its external policies.”

The statement is co-signed by:

David McAllister (EPP, Germany), Chair of the European Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee;

Maria Arena (S&D, Belgium), Chair of the European Parliament’s Subcommittee on Human Rights;

Raphaël Glucksmann (S&D, France), Chair of the Special Committee on Foreign Interference in all Democratic Processes in the European Union, including Disinformation;

Reinhard Bütikofer (The Greens/EFA, Germany), Chair of the European Parliament’s delegation for relations with the People’s Republic of China.

EASO Management Board elects new Chairperson

At the 38th European Asylum Support Office’s (EASO) Management Board meeting, held on 18 March 2021, the new Chairperson, Mr. Mikael Ribbenvik, who is the Member of the Board from Sweden, was elected following the retirement of Dr. David Costello, who was the Chairperson of the Board since February 2019. Following his election, Mr. Ribbenvik took up his responsibilities with immediate effect.

Mr. Ribbenvik has been the Swedish member of the EASO Management Board since 2013 and served as deputy Chairperson of the Board since 2019. Mr. Ribbenvik has over 20 years of experience in the field of asylum and migration and currently serves as Director-General of the Swedish Migration Agency.

At the same meeting, the Management Board adopted the EASO Strategy on Reception. The Strategy intends to redefine and activate the full application of EASO’s mandate, and strengthen, harmonise and better coordinate EASO’s activities on reception from a technical, training and operational point of view. The Management Board welcomed the EASO Strategy on Reception and considered it an important instrument in enhancing the effectiveness of the CEAS.

The Management Board also adopted Decision number 71 on Governance Monitoring Indicators and Quarterly Reporting (Repealing Decision no 60).

During the meeting, the Agency also provided the Management Board with an overview on the main results achieved in 2020 in the implementation of its Work Programme and Budget.

The Management Board was also updated on EASO’s Operations in Italy, Greece, Cyprus, Malta and Spain and took stock on the key highlights from the Annual Trends Analysis Report for 2020.

Any further information may be obtained from the European Asylum Support Office on the following email address: press@easo.europa.eu

Press release – Press conference on EP reports on Albania and North Macedonia

When: 14:30 – 15:00 CET, Thursday 25 March, 2021

Where: Brussels, Anna Politkovskaya press room SPAAK 0A50, remote participation via Interactio, and live streaming

Following the vote, Isabel Santos (S&D, PT) and Ilhan Kyuchyuk (Renew, BG) will comment on the Parliament’s position on the 2019-2020 Commission Reports on Albania and North Macedonia and answer questions from journalists during a press conference on Thursday at 14.30 CET.

The results of the final vote on the two reports will be announced at 18.15 in the Plenary chamber.

The rapporteurs will be present in the press room during the conference.

Interpretation will be available in English, French, Bulgarian and Portuguese.

Background

The enlargement reports are the European Parliament’s response to the annual Commission reports on the candidate and the potential candidate countries in the EU accession process. Resolutions adopted in plenary represent the European Parliament’s official position as regards EU relations with these countries.

Journalists wishing to actively participate and ask questions, please connect via Interactio by using this: https://broadcaster.interactio.eu/join/66e2-hy1p-1w4u

You can also follow it live from 14.30 via Parliament’s webstreaming and EbS+.

Important notice: Following advice from Parliament’s medical service, EP President Sassoli has decided that anyone wishing to enter Parliament’s premises must wear either a surgical mask or an FFP2 respiratory mask without a valve as of 8 March. You will not be allowed to enter Parliament wearing a ‘community mask’ or any mask made of textiles.

Information for the media – Use Interactio to ask questions

Interactio is only supported on iPad (with the Safari browser) and Mac/Windows (with the Google Chrome browser).

When connecting, enter your name and the media you are representing in the first name / last name fields.

For better sound quality, use headphones and a microphone. Interpretation is only possible for interventions with video.

Journalists who have never used Interactio before are asked to connect 30 minutes before the start of the press conference to perform a connection test. IT assistance can be provided if necessary. When connected, open the chat window (upper right corner) to be able to see the service messages.

For more details, check the connection guidelines and recommendations for remote speakers.

Press release – Press conference on EP reports on Kosovo and Serbia

When: 13:30 – 14:00 CET, Thursday 25 March, 2021

Where: Brussels, Anna Politkovskaya press room SPAAK 0A50, remote participation via Interactio and live streaming

Following the vote, Viola von Cramon-Taubadel (Greens/EFA, DE) and Vladimír Bilčík (EPP, SK) will comment on the Parliament’s position on the 2019-2020 Commission Reports on Kosovo and Serbia and answer questions from journalists during a press conference on Thursday at 13:30 CET.