Negotiators of the European Parliament and of the Council have finally reached a provisional agreement on the Single Resolution Mechanism, the crucial part of the banking union, on 20 March. The final discussion took almost 16 hours and was concluded early in the morning. This informal agreement was reached in time for the text of the regulation to be prepared and then formally approved by the MEPs in committee and on plenary before the May EP elections, as has been planned. As for the contents of the deal, the Member States have agreed that the input of the Council in the resolution process would be only upon explicit request by the Commission, whose task will be to draw up draft resolution schemes, thus eliminating possible political interference. The MEPs have agreed that details of the functioning of the resolution fund would be signed as a special intergovernmental agreement. Furthermore, a resolution scheme for a failing bank will have to be established in a short time, over the weekend, between the closing of American and opening of Asian financial markets. The mechanism is to be triggered by the ECB supervisor, or, if the ECB fails to do so, by the Resolution Board. The resolution fund will have the possibility to partially fill its capacity through bond emissions in the first years of its existence. The deal was welcomed by all EU institutions, including the European Council at their meeting.

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