The European Parliament’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs adopted last week its position on the implementation of the latest Basel prudential requirements into EU law (Basel III). ECSA welcomes the outcome of the Committee’s vote, which recognises the need to safeguard the competitiveness of the European shipping industry by introducing an effective framework for fostering ship financing in Europe.
As advocated by ECSA, the Parliament has maintained the dedicated provision in the Commission’s proposal addressing ship financing under specialised lending. The Commission and the Parliament recognise the risk level associated with ship financing and have put on the table effective measures on capital requirements to ensure European banks have the tools to continue lending to European companies.
ECSA believes these provisions are crucial to keep European shipping companies on equal footing with other jurisdictions when it comes to ship financing, in particular for the many SMEs who are facing difficulties to seek alternative finance outside of Europe.