EFC Sub-Committee On EU Sovereign Debt Markets

The Economic and Financial Committee's Sub-Committee on EU Sovereign Debt Markets (ESDM) was first established as the EFC sub-committee on EU government Bills and Bonds Market in December 1997 to study the modalities of debt re-denomination in stage 3 of EMU and other issues related to government bonds and bills markets in the context of the changeover to the euro and, to further promote the integration and a better functioning of EU government bond markets.

Since then, the mandate was extended at several occasions.

In 1999, to monitor the new euro-denominated bond market and to discuss issues related to the efficient functioning of the EU's primary and secondary government debt markets.

In March 2000, the Lisbon European Council acknowledged the importance of the group's work to the broader process of financial integration and the functioning of Sovereign Debt markets through greater consultation and transparency.

Since November 2004 the ESDM was mandated by the EFC to aim at promoting further the integration and a better functioning of EU government bond markets thereby impacting positively on the financial markets as a whole. In particular, the EFC Sub-Committee on EU Sovereign Debt Markets has as main tasks to:

• monitor the EU bond market with a view to promote an efficient functioning of the EU’s primary and secondary government debt markets;
• review existing barriers to a further integration of EU government securities markets;
• support Member States in identifying and implementing best practices, including on transparency, through the exchange of information and experiences on both strategic and technical aspects of government debt management; and
• deal with other important issues of public debt management on an ad hoc basis where necessary.

In 2010, the mandate further extended the tasks of the Sub-Committee to also include contributions to the preparation of EFC common positions on regulatory issues which significantly impact on sovereign debt markets (and therefore on the cost of public finance) and to prepare common understandings on technical issues such as collective action clauses and collateral swap agreements.

The Sub-committee is comprised of members from all 27 EU Member States. The European Commission, the European Central Bank, the EIB and the ESM are also represented.

The Sub-committee was chaired by Grégoire Brouhns (1997-2004), Jens Thomsen (2004-2010), Philippe Mills (2010-2013), Anne Leclercq (2013-2019), and Pablo de Ramón-Laca (2019-2022). The current Chair is Mr. Anthony Linehan, Deputy Director, Funding and Debt Management at the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) in Ireland. The Vice-chair of the Sub-committee is Johan Bergström, Head of Funding, Riksgälden - Swedish National Debt Office.

Documents