Doslovný zápis z rozpráv

Streda, 23. marca 2022 - Brusel

21. Pilotný režim pre trhovú infraštruktúru založenú na technológii distribuovanej databázy transakcií (rozprava)

  Die Präsidentin. – Als nächster Punkt der Tagesordnung folgt die Aussprache über den Bericht von Johan Van Overtveldt im Namen des Ausschusses für Wirtschaft und Währung über den Vorschlag für eine Verordnung des Europäischen Parlaments und des Rates über eine Pilotregelung für auf der Distributed-Ledger-Technologie basierende Marktinfrastrukturen (COM(2020)0594 – C9-0305/2020 – 2020/0267(COD)) (A9-0240/2021).

  Johan Van Overtveldt, rapporteur. – Madam President, dear colleagues, dear Commissioner McGuinness, dear Minister Beaune, integrated capital markets are a prerequisite for sustaining growth over the longer term. I therefore welcome all measures to provide additional input impetus to the European Capital Markets Union.

At the same time, digitalisation is rushing through the financial services industry, and to cope with this trend, it is not only vital to make existing financial legislation fit for digital, but also to show an openness towards new technologies that could make financial markets safer and more efficient. The digital finance package is an important milestone in that regard.

The technology that underpins crypto assets – the so-called distributed ledgers, or DLT – has a great potential for creative destruction and this will lead to productivity improvements. Its possible benefits in the provision of financial services include less complexity, strengthened network resilience, and reduced operational and financial risks.

Currently, financial markets infrastructures are not authorised to use DLT to issue, trade, and settle financial instruments such as bonds, shares and exchange-traded funds. The DLT pilot regime aims at testing exactly that while also addressing associated risks.

The project fully fits the CMU objectives, helps us to keep on track in an evolving digital world and puts the EU at the forefront of innovation. During the trilogues Parliament held high six objectives or principles. First, innovation. We followed a ‘sandbox’ approach, meaning that we allow for temporary and conditional exemptions from current legislation. The experience gained that way should foster innovation further.

Secondly, market integrity. The existing Market for Financial Instruments Directive and the Central Securities Depositories Regulation apply in a traditional, account-based environment. To ensure adequate regulatory and supervisory requirements for this regime, we checked in detail which rules from both pieces of legislation would also be essential for application in a DLT environment.

Third principle: investor protection, which I think speaks for itself.

Fourth element: financial stability. Our feeling was that the initial commission proposal was a bit too lenient on financial stability safeguards, as provided for in the CSDR. We have significantly strengthened these safeguards.

Fifth: level playing field. Providing equal opportunity to all market players is a fundamental principle of EU legislation.

And the sixth and last of the objectives was of course technological neutrality.

As a final remark, I would like to address our successors as co-legislators with a few words of caution for the longer term. What works in a limited testing environment does not necessarily work in a broader context. If the project turns out to be successful, simply expanding its scope and changing the permanent regulatory framework for financial services accordingly might create risks that are not noticeable or that were not noticeable in the pilot phase.

Secondly, future co-legislators should thoroughly scrutinise the exemptions granted under the pilot project before upscaling them. This is notably the case for possible risks linked to settlement in commercial bank money.

Thirdly, the Parliament negotiating team would also have liked a stronger role for ESMA as a central supervisor of the DLT pilot regime, but that turned out to be a no-go for the Council negotiators.

Let me, to finish, express my thanks to all involved in the file: the shadow rapporteurs, particularly Jessica Polfjärd, Eva Kaili, Stephanie Yon-Courtin and Ernest Urtasun; the Slovenian Presidency; the European Commission, particularly Commissioner McGuinness; and of course the parliamentary services.

  Mairead McGuinness, Member of the Commission. – Madam President, I would just like to say how pleased I am, actually, to be here this evening for this discussion on what has been a very successful agreement on the distributed ledger technology (DLT) pilot project. And I want to begin by thanking, of course, the rapporteur from the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON), Mr Van Overtveldt, who has given an extremely good rundown of what has been achieved and indeed given us some warnings about the future, which I have taken good note of.

But together we’re paving the way for the future of European finance with this initiative. Digital innovation is becoming ever more important, and again, I am pleased that this House shares the commitment of the Commission to support innovation within the regulated space. As you know, this regulation forms a key part of our digital agenda and ensures that EU financial services legislation is fit for the digital age. We are providing regulatory certainty to pioneer the use of distributed ledger technology in financial services. So briefly, I want to mention some of the key elements of the agreed regulation.

The digital representation of financial instruments on distributed ledgers is expected to open opportunities for efficiency improvements in trading and post-trading processes. The issuance of traditional asset classes in tokenised form will enable them to be issued, stored and transferred on a distributed ledger, which will also increase efficiency. With this regulation, the European Union is opening up to the use of DLT in existing financial market infrastructures such as investment firms, market operators and central securities depositories.

In concrete terms, it will allow for targeted exemptions from existing rules where those rules would pose technical obstacles to achieving the full benefit of DLT. As regards supervision, national competent authorities will remain in charge for authorisation, while the European Securities and Markets Authorities (ESMA) can issue an opinion on application. An explanation would be needed if national competent authorities decide to deviate significantly. And last but not least, consumer protection. DLT operators will have to put in place mechanisms to handle client complaints and compensation.

In the trilogues, I know that it was especially important for Parliament to ensure a level playing field, and a significant role for ESMA. I’m glad that we were able to find good solutions and significantly improve the Commission proposal in these areas. The pilot regime is, by its nature, temporary. It will last five years. This will allow market participants to safely experiment with the DLT to issue, trade and settle securities. This experience will inform future policymaking in digital finance and could open the door to more policy initiatives.

Before I finish, I want to thank again the rapporteur and all of the shadow rapporteurs, because this is groundbreaking work and I look forward to our debate.

  Jessica Polfjärd, on behalf of the PPE Group. – Madam President, I should like to thank Commissioner McGuinness for being here.

I would like to start by thanking the negotiation team under the leadership of Johan Van Overtveldt for the great cooperation on this file. By early on agreeing on several core principles, we made a good proposal even better.

The DLT pilot regime is an important step in the work to make Europe fit for the digital age. European rules must be innovation-friendly, and this agreement is a good example of sound European lawmaking. As we never know what the future will bring, we should allow experimenting to see what potential benefits new technology might have. And I believe DLT could indeed bring several improvements to how financial markets function. But we will, of course, not know if we don’t try.

We have managed several successes in this work. First of all, legal certainty for market participants wanting to try new technologies. Also expanding the scope and thresholds will make it more attractive to participants in general. And this is crucial in ensuring the usefulness of this pilot regime. If no one tries, we cannot identify the shortcomings.

If we want to use this pilot regime to identify potential changes to the existing rule book, we have to ensure that enough actors participate. I believe it bodes well for future legislation as well, that both in the European Parliament and in trilogues, we so easily agreed on the principle of technology neutrality.

Furthermore, by making use of EFMA’s expertise in the annual reports, both market participants and regulators will get a better understanding of the progress of functioning, which I believe will be crucial in the coming years.

In many ways, this agreement is not only a good example of a European Union that understands that we have to be open to new things and internationally competitive: it is an example of a European Union that also acts on these facts. That gives me a lot of inspiration for the further work.

  Eva Kaili, on behalf of the S&D Group. – Madame President, let me start by thanking our rapporteur, Mr Van Overveldt, a lot for successfully steering the Commission’s proposal, in the spirit of cooperation and compromise, to achieve the best result. Asset organisation is a major application of distributed ledger technology (DLT) in finance, and we need to test how it could be deployed, as well as financial market infrastructures on the issuance, registering, trading, settling and safekeeping of tokenised financial instruments. It is of great importance to acknowledge the benefits of the use of blockchain that allows, basically, the transactions to be recorded on a distributed ledger, and for trading and settlement to happen without delays – virtually in real time – enabling the merger of trading and post-trading activities. I think it’s very important that we manage to test this technology in a structured manner across the EU, in accordance, as our reporter rightly said, with the technology neutrality principle and innovation-friendly principle, building upon the spirit of the first blockchain resolution in 2015. Hopefully the related markets in cryptoassets (MiCA) file will also follow the same spirit. The DLT pilot regime regulation has been adopted by a large majority. I hope that this will enable a trustworthy framework and a protected result to follow, in a safe way, the implementation of a more permanent legislation. So thank you so much, rapporteur, and thank you Commissioner.

  Caroline Nagtegaal, on behalf of the Renew Group. – Madam President, I will speak on behalf of my dear friend and colleague Stéphanie Yon—Courtin.

The distributed ledger technology (DLT) pilot regime is yet another good proof that Europe is the continent for digital finance. With the pilot regime, Europe will be a pioneer on the use of blockchain on the financial markets. And with this pilot regime, innovative financing solutions for SMEs will be developed in Europe.

So with the pilot regime, disruption will shape the future of the financial markets with no concessions on financial stability and on consumer protection. In that case, Renew fully supports the trilogue agreement and we hope for swift progress on the rest of the digital finance package.

  France Jamet, au nom du groupe ID. – Madame la Présidente, mes chers collègues, manquer le défi de l’innovation dans le domaine des chaînes de blocs serait une faute grave, évidemment. Un obscurantisme pseudoécologiste voudrait les interdire sous prétexte qu’elles seraient trop consommatrices. Il est étrange d’ailleurs que les mêmes ne songent pas à interdire YouTube et autres réseaux sociaux très prisés et tout aussi énergivores.

Les seules conséquences avérées à l’absurde limitation des registres électroniques distribués – autrement dit des chaînes de blocs – seront de permettre à la Chine, aux États-Unis ou à d’autres de nous dominer technologiquement et économiquement, comme on l’a vu pour le nuage de données – je veux parler du cloud. On ne doit pas entrer dans un millénarisme de la décroissance, mais faire confiance dans la capacité de l’homme à innover, à s’adapter et à se dépasser. C’est le génie de notre civilisation depuis Aristote.

  Michiel Hoogeveen, on behalf of the ECR Group. – Madam President, the use of distributed ledger technology (DLT) can be a tremendous ally in the quest for a stronger capital markets union. The current regulatory framework is not sufficiently equipped to deal with the increasing digitalisation of the financial sector. Well-targeted derogations from existing legislation should allow our capital markets to take advantage of the opportunities offered by this technology. We welcome the creation of a testing ground for the use of digital ledger technology in this field, with the potential for countless innovations. DLT offers, for example, the opportunity to reimagine clearing and settlement in a true, borderless 24—7 operating environment, providing access to securities and cash pools to facilitate real—time settlements, delivering at near—100% settlement rates. With the vote on the DLT pilot regime tomorrow, we are taking a quantum leap towards the much—needed further digitalisation of our capital markets. Therefore, I congratulate the rapporteur and Parliament’s negotiating team for a job well done.

  Chris MacManus, on behalf of The Left Group. – Madam President, I wish to thank Mr Van Overtveldt for his fair and diligent work on this file. Unfortunately, the end result goes much too far in the direction of deregulation for The Left Group. This is best summed up by the fact that thresholds set by the Commission proposal to contain this pilot project have been increased recklessly. The European Central Bank (ECB), for example, expressed concern at the beginning of the process that for some countries, the thresholds might need to be lowered and that there was a danger of them being circumvented. The Left were not alone in this position, with MEPs from other Groups also seeking to reduce or at least maintain these thresholds.

Let me be clear; this is not opposition to innovation or technological advances. It is opposition to irresponsibility and to industry lobbying leading to a pilot project spiralling into what would be, effectively, an exercise in deregulation.

  Jonás Fernández (S&D). – Señora presidenta, señora comisaria, en primer lugar, y dado el amplio apoyo que ha concitado la propuesta de Reglamento sobre un régimen piloto para desarrollar infraestructuras digitales, quería felicitar al conjunto de los ponentes y muy especialmente a Eva Kaili, la ponente alternativa de mi grupo.

Y me gustaría también aprovechar este debate —a la vez que agradecemos ese amplio acuerdo para esta propuesta de Reglamento— para lamentar que no haya habido un acuerdo similar para la aprobación del Reglamento MICA hace apenas unos días en la Comisión ECON y que, además, esa comisión, o la derecha en esa comisión, haya bloqueado el debate en el Pleno sobre el Reglamento MICA, porque ese Reglamento exigía, en nuestra opinión, un debate claro en este Parlamento, especialmente en estos momentos y después de escuchar el debate previo sobre los efectos de la invasión de Rusia en Ucrania. Porque esas tecnologías, esas monedas digitales, tienen un consumo energético brutal; esas tecnologías se están usando para blanquear capitales, para blanquear movimientos de capitales. Y espero que en el diálogo tripartito ambos requisitos puedan ser incorporados en la negociación entre el Parlamento y el Consejo.

  Mairead McGuinness, Member of the Commission. – Madam President, can you hear me? I have to say, there’s something rather bizarre about a debate on technology when the technology fails. But what is wonderful is that we actually do have technology supplements, so well done, Madam President, and all the technical advisers. I think one of the earlier speakers mentioned that they would not sing – in fact a fellow Irish person, I believe. I’ve certainly been known to do that.

But what really strikes me, getting back to our debate here this evening, is the unity of purpose amongst you, the rapporteur and the shadows, and also your leadership, Mr Van Overtveldt, is deeply appreciated, because this is a first. And I think it’s good to be involved in something that is a first, but also it is not a free-for-all. It is a first with conditionality. We have to test something to see does it work before we make any more decisions.

So it’s been really good to hear this debate here this evening. I very much look forward to the vote in this House tomorrow. And in terms of deregulation, I’m on record, I think, in one of my first interventions in this Parliament as Commissioner responsible for financial services, that deregulation is not on my agenda, but effective, better regulation is: innovation and technology is part of that.

Lastly, if I may say that I had the great pleasure of meeting a group of young people today. They were young leaders, in fact, from Northern Ireland, and they were in the Commission, and it was absolutely impressive to hear them talk about cryptocurrencies, this technology and what young people are doing. So it’s really important that we in this House are involved in this, because the future is digital and young people are not starting from where we start from. They’re already there.

So well done to all of you for your work, for your cooperation, and for being part of what is a first.

  Die Präsidentin. – Die Aussprache ist geschlossen.

Die Abstimmung findet am Donnerstag, 24. März 2022, statt.

Schriftliche Erklärungen (Artikel 171)

  Andżelika Anna Możdżanowska (ECR), na piśmie. – Postęp w dziedzinie digitalizacji dotyka wszystkich sfer naszego życia, także sfery ekonomicznej. Cechą charakterystyczną naszej cywilizacji – a zarazem tym, co decydowało o jej rozwoju – była zawsze otwartość na inwencję twórczą. Osiągaliśmy sukcesy dzięki wolnej od uprzedzeń adaptacji wynalazków i innowacji. Rozwijające się technologie cyfrowe rewolucjonizują rynki finansowe. Pozwalają na zawieranie skutecznych i bezpiecznych transakcji w zupełnie nowy, nieznany dotąd sposób. Pozwalają też na powstawanie nowych, cyfrowych form aktywów.

Ustawodawstwo i nadzór ostrożnościowy w całym świecie dopiero dostosowuje się do nowych realiów. Unia Europejska – często kojarzona z nadmiarem biurokracji i ociężałością administracyjną – zyskuje więc szansę, by przez przyjazną legislacją „przyciągnąć” rynki finansów cyfrowych i rozbudować tę gałąź gospodarki. Jest to tym ważniejsze, że pojęcia wolnego rynku i swobody wyboru narodziły się właśnie w Europie: powinniśmy być naturalnym liderem w tym wyścigu.

Program pilotażowy DLT jest otwarciem drogi dla bezpiecznego i kontrolowanego obrotu kryptoaktywami. Oczywiście, w tej dziedzinie naturalnym przedmiotem naszej troski jest zjawisko prania pieniędzy, któremu chcemy za wszelką cenę przeciwdziałać. Dlatego równolegle do wprowadzanych ułatwień musimy finalizować pracę nad pakietem AML.