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Borg voices concern over EU bank talks

AFP/The Local
AFP/The Local - [email protected]
Borg voices concern over EU bank talks

Swedish finance minister Anders Borg said on Tuesday that delicate negotiations to create new cross-border financial supervisory bodies to oversee banks in the European Union were at a "make-or-break" point.

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Amid British opposition to a new system, first agreed in principle in the summer as a response to the financial crisis, the Swedes fear key EU member states have "not drawn the right lessons from the economic crisis."

"The most important part of the (exit strategy) is building the new financial supervisory infrastructure," said Swedish Finance Minister Anders Borg after a meeting of EU counterparts.

Borg warned failure to reach a deal would be "very problematic for Europe," adding: "That is the make or break issue."

"If we don’t have a decision in December, on the whole package, both the macro and the micro supervision, then I have to say we have not drawn the right lessons from the economic crisis.

Britain in October blocked EU financial reform proposals it said impinged on its fiscal sovereignty.

Agreement will only come after the London parliament revisits the issue after ministers agreed then to allow "further political negotiation."

The British Treasury has said it wants to preserve the City of London's status as the most powerful financial centre in Europe and fears that current proposals risk leaving loopholes that could undermine that status.

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