The Commission intends to restrict the maximum repayable amount of EU deposit guarantee schemes to € 100,000 in future. Deposit guarantee schemes are being obliged to mutually grant loans.
In the middle of the financial crisis the Council and the European Parliament decided to increase the minimum coverage level to Euro 50,000 and – by the end of 2010 – up to 100,000. Issues such as the EU-wide harmonisation of the financing of deposit guarantee schemes and the establishment of a European deposit guarantee scheme were postponed to 2010.
The latest plans face substantial opposition. Several national parliaments intend to file a subsidiarity complaint, a procedure newly introduced by the Lisbon Treaty, in order to force the Commission to reassess the Proposal.
Limiting the maximum repayment amount to Euro 100,000 is counterproductive and cannot be justified by the stability of the financial market. The obligation to mutually grant loans between DGS has a destabilising effect. The repayment period of 7 days is not realistic and too short. Rules regarding a credible financing of deposit guarantee schemes are reasonable but can be equally prescribed at national level, instead of European level. Although this is not true for EU-wide maximum coverage levels and mutual loans, they are both counterproductive.
