Mr. Feargal Ó Brolcháin:

The board of governors must approve it and the aim is for that to be done in early November, once the single supervisory mechanism, SSM, is operational. Once that is in place, there is the possibility that any member state can make an application on behalf of a financial institution to seek direct recapitalisation, subject to the conditions I set out and the aims. If there are acute difficulties which cannot be remedied without significantly endangering a member state's fiscal sustainability due to a severe risk of contagion, or if alternatives would have the effect of endangering the continuous market access of an ESM member, this could be used.

It was agreed in principle in 2012 that this instrument would be developed, and measures for banking union have since been put in place, particularly with regard to the EU bank recovery and resolution directive, BRRD, which sets up a cascade. The operational guideline circulated to committee members provides that such a cascade would follow through in advance of the instrument's application. That is what is envisaged. The instrument is one part of breaking the link and the banking union measures are another important part of that, especially the BRRD.