On 9 October 2026, the Economic and Financial Affairs (ECOFIN) Council agreed on the key elements of the Market Integration and Supervision (MISP) package. The adoption of the negotiating position follows nine months of negotiations between Member States on possible amendments to the MISP legislative package, which was published by the European Commission (Commission) on 4 December 2025.
As a reminder, the MISP legislative package proposes changes to different pieces of European Union (EU) legislation. These changes are contained in three proposals, namely:
- A proposed Regulation amending the:
- Regulation establishing the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA)
- European Markets Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR)
- Markets in Financial Instruments Regulation (MiFIR)
- Central Securities Depositories Regulation (CSDR)
- Distributed Ledger Technology Pilot Regulation (DLTPR)
- Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA)
- Cross-Border Distribution of Funds Regulation (CBDR)
The proposed Regulation also makes certain targeted amendments to other pieces of EU legislation to align them with the proposed changes to the ESMA Regulation. This includes the Benchmark Regulation and the Securities Financing Transactions Regulation.
- A proposed Directive amending the:
- Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities (UCITS) Directive
- Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD)
- Markets in Financial Instruments Directive II (MiFID II)
- A proposed Regulation replacing the Settlement Finality Directive and amending the Financial Collateral Directive.
- Please refer to our earlier blog post for an overview of the proposals’ content.
While the texts of the final negotiating mandates have not been published, the Council press release provides the following information on the content of the negotiating position:
- The Council agreed that supervision of significant central counterparties and central securities depositories should be transferred to the EU level, with ESMA acting as their direct supervisor.
- The most significant cross-border trading venues would likewise become subject to EU-level supervision. This aspect of the MISP package was subject to contentious discussions among the Member States.
- The Council supports the introduction of the Pan-European market Operator (PEMO) concept and has adopted amendments to clarify and broaden eligibility under the PEMO framework.
- Under the Council position, only the most significant crypto-asset service providers (CASPs) would become subject to ESMA supervision. By contrast, the Commission had proposed that ESMA become the sole supervisor of all CASPs.
- The Council supports the establishment of an ESMA executive board, but would retain the board of supervisors to preserve a role for national competent authorities and thus Member States. The board of supervisors would remain ESMA’s principal decision-making body. The Member States decided on these amendments since they were conscious that the move of supervision of certain financial entities to the EU level would leave them with less powers to supervise the financial markets. Through these compromises, they could retain control, albeit in a more indirect way.
- The Council supports a two-year transitional period for ESMA to assume its new supervisory responsibilities.
- With regard to asset management, the press release refers to the new depositary passport regime and to simplification measures for intra-EU groups operating across Member State borders.
Next steps
The Council negotiating position must still be formally adopted before it is published, which we expect to occur in the week commencing 12 October 2026. The Council must then await the European Parliament’s adoption of its own negotiating position before trilogue negotiations between the Commission, the Council and the European Parliament can commence. The European Parliament’s ECON Committee is expected to adopt its negotiating position on 1 November 2026.
Norton Rose Fulbright’s Government Relations and Public Policy team in Brussels is currently supporting clients with monitoring legislative developments and engaging with EU policy-makers in relation to the EU Market Integration and Supervision Package (MISP). Please get in touch with Robert Langmuir or Flupke van den Bogart for mo
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