Dear colleagues,
Dear friends,
Last week, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen nominated the Irish Mairead McGuinness as future Commissioner for Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union. She is to succeed Valdis Dombrovskis from Latvia, who has been in charge of the portfolio since 2016 and is now expected to become Trade Commissioner. Her responsibilities will include in particular banking and financial market regulation, strengthening the EU Capital Markets Union, developing green and sustainable finance, rules for FinTechs and cryptocurrencies and the fight against money laundering.
Like all EU Commissioners, McGuinness must be confirmed by the European Parliament. McGuinness will attend a hearing on 2 October 2020 before the European Parliament’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON). On the basis of this hearing and a written questionnaire, the Committee will assess McGuinness’ suitability for the post of Finance Commissioner. The procedure is dreaded, as all Commissioner candidates have to show their colours on many issues before being appointed by the Parliament.
Against this background, we would ask you to send us specific (!) questions and topics for the hearing of Mairead McGuinness. Of particular interest would be the state of implementation and supervision of European financial markets rules in Ireland and whether and in which areas Ireland could be accused of regulatory or supervisory arbitrage. We invite you to send us your comments by Monday, 28 September 2020 at 18:00 to sven.giegold@ep.europa.eu.
Thank you and best regards,
Sven Giegold
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