November 8, 2026

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The European Post

Policy • Diplomacy • strategic insight

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Türkiye EU Report Row Clouds Customs Union Upgrade HopesWestern Balkans Roaming Talks Test Brussels Integration PledgeRail Ticketing Package Reaches Ministers With Gaps OpenMarket Integration Package Narrows As ESMA Powers ShrinkWolf Protection Rules Meet Sweden’s 72-Wolf Hunt TestPay Transparency Directive Deadline Passes With Only Four States ReadyHolding Cap Fight Shadows Digital Euro Law Ahead Of Council TalksCBAM Expansion Talks Test Whether Finished Goods Face Carbon LevyIsraeli Settlement Imports Ban Splits Commission And CouncilUnlimited Pesticide Approvals Face Public Rejection In PollMethane Import Rules Delayed A Year With Review ClauseSustainable Tourism Strategy Hands Europe A Toolbox For Crowded CitiesPharma Package Heads To Parliament After Council Backs Drug ReformRussia Sanctions Alignment Pulls Nine Partners Into Arms ListingsBrazil Farm Exports Jump 14.8 Percent Under EU Mercosur Trade DealNorth Korea IT Workers Draw Joint Western Sanctions ResponseDRC Sanctions Regime Gains Arms Ban And Peacekeeper ProtectionMade With Taiwan Pitch Tests Europe’s Economic Security AppetiteGeorgia Visa-Free Regime Faces January Review After Kallas WarningTeacher Shortages Put The EU Teachers Agenda To The TestTürkiye EU Report Row Clouds Customs Union Upgrade HopesWestern Balkans Roaming Talks Test Brussels Integration PledgeRail Ticketing Package Reaches Ministers With Gaps OpenMarket Integration Package Narrows As ESMA Powers ShrinkWolf Protection Rules Meet Sweden’s 72-Wolf Hunt TestPay Transparency Directive Deadline Passes With Only Four States ReadyHolding Cap Fight Shadows Digital Euro Law Ahead Of Council TalksCBAM Expansion Talks Test Whether Finished Goods Face Carbon LevyIsraeli Settlement Imports Ban Splits Commission And CouncilUnlimited Pesticide Approvals Face Public Rejection In PollMethane Import Rules Delayed A Year With Review ClauseSustainable Tourism Strategy Hands Europe A Toolbox For Crowded CitiesPharma Package Heads To Parliament After Council Backs Drug ReformRussia Sanctions Alignment Pulls Nine Partners Into Arms ListingsBrazil Farm Exports Jump 14.8 Percent Under EU Mercosur Trade DealNorth Korea IT Workers Draw Joint Western Sanctions ResponseDRC Sanctions Regime Gains Arms Ban And Peacekeeper ProtectionMade With Taiwan Pitch Tests Europe’s Economic Security AppetiteGeorgia Visa-Free Regime Faces January Review After Kallas WarningTeacher Shortages Put The EU Teachers Agenda To The Test
November 8, 2026

Newsletter

The European Post

Policy • Diplomacy • strategic insight

LATEST
Türkiye EU Report Row Clouds Customs Union Upgrade HopesWestern Balkans Roaming Talks Test Brussels Integration PledgeRail Ticketing Package Reaches Ministers With Gaps OpenMarket Integration Package Narrows As ESMA Powers ShrinkWolf Protection Rules Meet Sweden’s 72-Wolf Hunt TestPay Transparency Directive Deadline Passes With Only Four States ReadyHolding Cap Fight Shadows Digital Euro Law Ahead Of Council TalksCBAM Expansion Talks Test Whether Finished Goods Face Carbon LevyIsraeli Settlement Imports Ban Splits Commission And CouncilUnlimited Pesticide Approvals Face Public Rejection In PollMethane Import Rules Delayed A Year With Review ClauseSustainable Tourism Strategy Hands Europe A Toolbox For Crowded CitiesPharma Package Heads To Parliament After Council Backs Drug ReformRussia Sanctions Alignment Pulls Nine Partners Into Arms ListingsBrazil Farm Exports Jump 14.8 Percent Under EU Mercosur Trade DealNorth Korea IT Workers Draw Joint Western Sanctions ResponseDRC Sanctions Regime Gains Arms Ban And Peacekeeper ProtectionMade With Taiwan Pitch Tests Europe’s Economic Security AppetiteGeorgia Visa-Free Regime Faces January Review After Kallas WarningTeacher Shortages Put The EU Teachers Agenda To The TestTürkiye EU Report Row Clouds Customs Union Upgrade HopesWestern Balkans Roaming Talks Test Brussels Integration PledgeRail Ticketing Package Reaches Ministers With Gaps OpenMarket Integration Package Narrows As ESMA Powers ShrinkWolf Protection Rules Meet Sweden’s 72-Wolf Hunt TestPay Transparency Directive Deadline Passes With Only Four States ReadyHolding Cap Fight Shadows Digital Euro Law Ahead Of Council TalksCBAM Expansion Talks Test Whether Finished Goods Face Carbon LevyIsraeli Settlement Imports Ban Splits Commission And CouncilUnlimited Pesticide Approvals Face Public Rejection In PollMethane Import Rules Delayed A Year With Review ClauseSustainable Tourism Strategy Hands Europe A Toolbox For Crowded CitiesPharma Package Heads To Parliament After Council Backs Drug ReformRussia Sanctions Alignment Pulls Nine Partners Into Arms ListingsBrazil Farm Exports Jump 14.8 Percent Under EU Mercosur Trade DealNorth Korea IT Workers Draw Joint Western Sanctions ResponseDRC Sanctions Regime Gains Arms Ban And Peacekeeper ProtectionMade With Taiwan Pitch Tests Europe’s Economic Security AppetiteGeorgia Visa-Free Regime Faces January Review After Kallas WarningTeacher Shortages Put The EU Teachers Agenda To The Test

Market Integration Package Narrows As ESMA Powers Shrink

Goran Ivanišević
EU Affairs Reporter, Financial Services and Banking

The EU market integration package has moved from the Commission’s drawing board into a three-way fight over who supervises Europe’s capital markets. Finance ministers agreed the key elements of the Council’s negotiating position on 9 October 2026 in Luxembourg, after about nine months of work. The result trims the Commission’s original plan, and Parliament’s economic affairs committee now plans to vote on its own position on 1 December.

The Commission presented the market integration package on 4 December 2025 as three proposals. One regulation amends the ESMA Regulation and several market laws, including EMIR, MiFIR, the central securities depositories rules, the DLT Pilot Regime and MiCA. A directive amends UCITS, AIFMD and MiFID II, and a second regulation replaces the Settlement Finality Directive.

The Irish Presidency drafted the Council compromise on the market integration package, and Irish minister Simon Harris called it a step towards a more integrated Savings and Investments Union. Belgium abstained, with minister Jan Jambon objecting to carve-outs that he said tilt the playing field. France’s Roland Lescure said every side gave something up. Commissioner Maria Luís Albuquerque said the Commission deeply regrets the outcome and expects to rely on Parliament for a more ambitious position.

Direct supervision is the core dispute in the market integration package. Under the Council text, ESMA would directly supervise significant central counterparties and central securities depositories, plus the most significant cross-border trading venues. Agence Europe reports that the significance criteria would leave out four venue groups, among them Deutsche Börse and SIX, though that is a single-source claim. For crypto, only the most significant cross-border service providers would fall under ESMA, and Albuquerque estimated that 10 to 15 of nearly 400 European providers would qualify.

Governance changes in the market integration package follow. The Council wants a new full-time ESMA executive board while keeping the Board of Supervisors as the main decision body, and it allows a two-year transition for the new tasks. The Commission objects that the board’s approval powers would make decisions slower and costlier. On asset management, the Council adds an optional depositary passport and simplification for intra-EU groups.

Parliament wants to go further on the market integration package. Rapporteurs Markus Ferber, Eero Heinäluoma and Giovanni Crosetto published draft reports in June, and more than 1,900 amendments followed, according to a PwC Legal note. Compromise texts from September and October would have ESMA supervise all central counterparties and all central securities depositories, which is wider than either the Council or the Commission proposed. Only significant crypto providers would face ESMA, and smaller ones could opt in.

Timing is tight for the market integration package. Trilogues cannot start until Parliament has its mandate, and no trilogue had taken place as of 8 November. The “One Europe, One Market” roadmap aimed for a deal by the end of 2026, which looks unlikely with committee votes scheduled for December. Industry group AIMA expects talks to begin in early 2027, which is an inference rather than an official date.

For investors and exchanges, the outcome will turn on two numbers: how many trading venues clear the significance threshold, and how many crypto firms fall under ESMA. Until Parliament votes on 1 December and the institutions open trilogues, the market integration package remains a negotiating position, not law.

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