# Does Europe deregulate by conviction, or by competitive pressure? — Voice Affairs 09 > On 17 July, the European Commission unveiled its long-awaited banking reform package - a sweeping attempt to free roughly €225 billion in capital and… Source: https://voice-sc.com/voice-affairs/issue-09/ Voice Affairs — Issue 09 · 31 July 2026 # Does Europe deregulate by conviction, or by competitive pressure? By Jacopo Garone ## The Briefing Once a month, we publish an editorial on how influence works in Europe today, a legislative radar on what is moving in Brussels, and a note on the work behind it. Written for the decision-maker’s chair, and for those who advise it. Issue 09 · 31 July 2026 ## Does Europe deregulate by conviction, or by competitive pressure? On 17 July, the European Commission unveiled its long-awaited banking reform package - a sweeping attempt to free roughly €225 billion in capital and €250 billion in liquidity currently trapped inside national ring-fencing rules. The bonus cap that has limited banker pay to twice base salary since 2014 is back on the table. The 2015 deposit insurance scheme, stalled for over a decade, has been quietly shelved in favour of a new framework. On paper, this reads like housekeeping. It isn't. ### Editorial The Commission has been explicit about the trigger: US deregulation under the current administration is reshaping the competitive playing field, and European banks - still operating under compliance requirements calibrated at subsidiary level, market by market - are absorbing a structural cost their American counterparts no longer carry. Brussels' answer is to shift capital and liquidity requirements to the parent entity level, dismantling two decades of ring-fencing logic built after 2008 precisely to contain cross-border risk. This is where the real story sits, and it is not really about banking. It is about how Europe decides when to loosen its own rules. Three elements are worth watching, whatever sector you operate in: Sequencing. The Commission must deliver concrete legislative proposals by end of March 2027 - meaning the political fight over what "simplification" actually means happens over the next eight months, not in the abstract. Anyone with a stake in the outcome has a narrow, defined window to shape it, not an open-ended one. Precedent. A framework built to contain systemic risk after a crisis is now being partially unwound in the name of competitiveness. The justification - "we must match what others allow" - is a template that other regulated sectors should expect to see again, and soon. Optics versus substance. The EBA has simultaneously opened four consultations to strengthen depositor protection under the revised Deposit Guarantee Schemes Directive. Loosening capital rules while tightening depositor protection is not a contradiction - it is how the Commission intends to sell deregulation as still being about safety. Whether that framing holds through Parliament and Council negotiations is the thing to track. For any organisation operating in a highly regulated, reputation-sensitive sector, the lesson isn't about banks. It's that Brussels has just demonstrated, in public, the conditions under which it is willing to reopen rules it once called non-negotiable. Knowing what those conditions are - competitive pressure, a defined political window, a safety-adjacent counter-narrative - is worth more than knowing the detail of this specific package. This is also our last issue before the summer break. We'll be back in September - and this file, along with the ETS Phase 5 negotiations, will be near the top of what we're watching when the institutional calendar restarts. Enjoy the pause. Brussels won't be idle for long. Jacopo Garone is Co-Founder of Voice Strategic Consulting. ### Legislative Radar with Thembi #### Industrial accelerator act: The real fight isn't about industry, it's about foreign capital Council talks on the Industrial Accelerator Act (2026/0068/COD) turned political in late July. Technical work on "Made in EU" and low-carbon requirements for strategic sectors has moved forward — but Member States still haven't reached a General Approach. The blocker: Foreign Direct Investment conditionalities. How far should the EU go in using industrial policy to shape who gets to invest? That question, not the technical detail, is now driving the timeline. Why it matters: the proposal links public procurement and public support schemes to EU-origin and low-carbon criteria — effectively building lead markets for decarbonised industrial products. For energy, fuels and strategic manufacturing players, this will shape market access and public contract eligibility for years, not months. #### Digital networks act: From copper to a single EU passport The Digital Networks Act moved into a decisive phase in late July, with fresh Council discussions and continued Parliament scrutiny. The goal: a genuine Digital Single Market for telecoms, via an EU "Single Passport", and a managed transition from copper to fibre. The debate has shifted from ambition to detail: spectrum coordination, cross-border authorisations, and the terms of the copper switch-off. Why it matters beyond telecoms: this sets the resilience and security baseline for Europe's digital infrastructure for years to come — relevant to any reputation-sensitive sector that depends on it, not just operators. ### In case you missed it #### Understanding Europe's next generation, one dataset at a time We supported eGroup Italy, MondoIULM and IULM Alumni in launching the University Network Observatory — a research initiative built with Ipsos on a sample of over 600 students across 35 Italian universities, mapping purchasing behaviour, money management and leisure habits within the university-age audience. It's the kind of structured dataset that's been missing from the Italian market at this scale — a reminder that understanding any stakeholder group starts with data, not assumptions. Results will be presented on 17 September at Università IULM in Milan, across three thematic panels moderated by Francesco Oggiano. We'll be there — join us if you're curious what a generation actually spends its time and money on. #### Eighty years representing Lombardy's industrial backbone Our client A.P.I. — Associazione Piccole e Medie Industrie — marked its 80th anniversary this month, and we helped shape the visibility around it. Founded in Milan in 1946, the association now represents almost 2,000 SMEs across five districts between Milan and Bergamo, generating €9.5 billion in combined turnover. Lombardy alone hosts nearly a quarter of Italy's SMEs — the engine behind 61% of the country's revenue. The campaign caught the attention of Lombardy's President Attilio Fontana, who reshared it on his personal Instagram profile. A good example of sector-specific advocacy travelling well beyond its immediate audience. #### Where the Energy transition actually begins: The farm Our client Adamant Group has launched Adamant Agro, a new business unit dedicated to sourcing and certifying low-carbon-intensity agricultural feedstock for bioenergy, renewable fuels and SAF. Headquartered in Buenos Aires, the unit will connect agricultural producers with the global energy industry and advise on the shift toward regenerative, low-emission farming. "Agriculture is where the energy transition begins," said Founder and CEO Riccardo Marchetti. "We are building the missing link between the farm and the fuel." Worth watching as the SAF feedstock conversation increasingly starts upstream, not at the refinery gate.