The UK is now a third country and consequently UK-registered financial firms have lost the right, or passport, to seamlessly offer their services anywhere in the EU single market. They now have no better access to that market than their peers in other third countries such as Japan, Singapore, or the United States.

In some (though far from all) segments of the financial sector, firms from these other third countries currently have better single market access than British ones. This is because these market segments are covered by a category known in EU law as equivalence decisions, by which the European Commission allows direct service provision by firms in the third country whose regulatory framework of the market segment it deems ‘equivalent’. Equivalence decisions are at the Commission’s discretion. Unlike the single market passport, equivalence is a privilege not a right, and can also be revoked at short notice. So far the Commission has not granted the UK any such segment-specific equivalence, except in a time-limited manner for*securities depositories*until mid-2021 and*clearing services*until mid-2022. For the moment the Commission appears to lean*against*making the latter permanent, but it is too early to be sure.

In most other market segments, it appears improbable that the Commission will grant equivalence to the UK in the foreseeable future. Although this may appear counterintuitive, since almost all current UK regulations stem from the existing*EU body of law, the expectation is the UK authorities will diverge as they (not least the*Bank of England) have declined to make commitments to the contrary.

Moreover, it would be understandable for the Commission to aim at reducing the EU’s dependence on the City of London. There has been no comparable dependence on an offshore financial centre anywhere in recent financial history. Keeping that level of dependence would entail financial stability risk, because in some crisis scenarios, the aims of UK authorities would not necessarily be aligned with EU aims.*

Sigmar Gabriel, a former vice-chancellor, called her nomination “an unprecedented act of political trickery”.

The Greens bemoaned Von der Leyen’s nomination as an “old-school backroom deal”, the pro-business Free Democrats said she was “not the best candidate”, the far-right Alternative für Deutschland said her selection would amount to “cheating voters” and even Manfred Weber, the candidate that Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union had originally fielded for the top commission post, lamented a “sad day for European democracy”.

Katarina Barley, a former SPD justice minister who is now one of the new European parliament’s vice-presidents, said she would vote against her former cabinet colleague – a move endorsed by leading German newspapers such as Süddeutsche Zeitung.

Von der Leyen was an “inappropriate” choice, the paper said, because her track record in the defence ministry was so poor that she should long ago have resigned. “She will be unable to cope with the commission presidency,” it added.

In a bizarre twist, Germany was the only one of the 28 EU member states to abstain from the vote to nominate her.

It really really hurts doesn’t it? Fancy being ruled by the Germans and French, both telling you what to do.

Is it like a wife and a daughter both telling you what to do? And you only wanting to enjoy a quiet beer?

It really really hurts doesn’t it? Fancy being ruled by the Germans and French, both telling you what to do.

And you have been emasculated, you no longer have the balls to stand up to or divorce your masters Germany and France, no wonder you are bitter.

Not as strange as it sounds actually.

I was watching a documentary on the telly the other day about when the Germans marched into France and the people were all waving and cheering.

As things are now, apparently, they dislike Micron rather strongly and want change.

I wonder whether history will repeat itself!

https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...-von-der-leyen

2019




Curiouser and curiouser some funny business here.

Maybe they can do something with tulip bulbs...?