Source: European Parliament
The Commission does not comment on individual cases or specific transactions.
The Commission notes that in the European banking union significant banks are supervised by the Single supervisory mechanism, which has the task of vetting prospective acquirers of banks’ shares under EU rules (qualifying holdings).
In addition, national competition authorities and/or the Commission have also the power to veto it under relevant EU and national competition rules.
In principle, EU law prohibits restrictions to the fundamental market freedoms. As an exception, Member States may impose restrictions through their national laws only if such restrictions are proportionate and based on legitimate public interests.
In the banking sector, such interests have to be other than prudential ones, to avoid interference with the European Central Bank’s competence.
However, reliance on those exceptions must be interpreted strictly, to reflect genuine and sufficiently serious threats to a fundamental interest of society. Moreover, those derogations must not be applied to serve purely economic ends.