The European Banking Union and EU administrative law

This chapter analyses the democratic accountability mechanisms currently existing in the European Banking Union, and draws some initial conclusions based on their practice as it has developed thus far. It compares the procedures existing in the two first pillars of the European Banking Union, i.e. those that exist in the framework of the Single Supervision Mechanism and those that are in place in the Single Resolution Mechanism. The Council and the European Parliament, but also national parliaments are considered, alongside the European Commission in the case of the Single Resolution Board (SRB). This chapter then examines whether, considering their use during the first years of functioning, they suffice to compensate for the additional transfer of competences to the EU level. It concludes that five years after the entry into force of the SSM Regulation, accountability has, so far, been mostly ensured at the European level by the European Parliament and the Council, whilst national parliaments have only marginally made use of the prerogatives conferred upon them. The European Parliament interacts regularly with the SRB, even if it does so less than it does with the ECB. Few precise data are available regarding the Council and the Commission, but their relationships too seem to be rather close. National parliaments have so far only very rarely interacted with the SRB.