BRUSSELS — The EU’s six largest economies have thrown their weight behind plans to centralize oversight of some of Europe’s biggest financial companies under a single supervisor, according to a document obtained by POLITICO. The finance ministers of France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland and Spain — the so-called “E6” group — backed the idea in a six-page letter addressed to the European Commission, the Eurogroup and the Council of the European Union. The letter outlined multiple initiatives and deadlines that Brussels should pursue this year. The goal is to create a deeper financial market to “strengthen Europe’s growth potential, enhance its economic sovereignty and provide a stronger foundation for financing common priorities,” the letter said. Among the most contentious initiatives is introducing EU supervision of “the most systemic, relevant, cross-border financial market infrastructures” amid firm resistance from a group of small countries, led by Ireland and Luxembourg, which rely on their outsized finance sectors and are reluctant to cede control to the EU level. EU leaders are set to discuss how best to speed up Brussels’ decade-long plans to create a U.S-style financial market next week after years of lackluster results amid vying national interests. Ireland has already sounded the alarm of the E6 group, as smaller countries fret that their views will be sidelined if countries club together to integrate their financial markets. In the letter, the E6 ministers said creating a “savings and investments union … has become an urgent strategic necessity” and that they commit to “taking action at European as well as at national level.” Other targets in the letter include reviving the bloc’s market for resold debt, or securitization, minting virtual euro banknotes, and introducing an EU-wide one-stop shop for founding companies, dubbed the 28th regime. There are also calls for greater transparency in stock markets and a push for a legislative package this year to streamline the EU’s financial rules. SEEKING A MAJORITY The idea of a single market watchdog, which would play a role similar to the European Central Bank’s supervisory arm for banking, has long been blocked at EU level due to the opposition of small countries and the lack of Germany’s backing. The support of the major economies is a breakthrough in the likelihood of agreeing to the plan, which the European Commission officially proposed in December but has been informally discussed since the financial crisis. The E6 countries wouldn’t be able to do it alone. They would first have to seek a “qualified majority” across the bloc to pass the proposal. That threshold requires the support of 15 countries that represent at least 65 percent of the EU. Should that fail, nine countries can pursue “enhanced cooperation” together to achieve their aims. The supervision plan would centralize oversight of large, cross-border financial plumbing firms, such as stock exchanges and clearinghouses, under the Paris-based European Securities and Markets Authority. The six countries stop short of fully endorsing the Commission’s December proposal, instead saying it “provides a solid basis for further discussion and allows us to work out the best possible solutions in the coming weeks.” The ministers call for EU countries to reach a political deal on the Commission’s plan by this summer.

BRUSSELS — U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats to annex Greenland were the “epiphany moment” for Europe’s six largest economies to club together and speed up financial market reform, Spanish Economy Minister Carlos Cuerpo told POLITICO. The new group, dubbed “E6” in Brussels, is an exclusive club among the EU’s six largest economies — France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Poland — designed to break political deadlocks that have hamstrung efforts to create a U.S.-style financial market over the last decade. Without action, the six countries fear that Europe’s economy will fail to keep pace with the U.S. and China, and be further squeezed in a geopolitical world that has become increasingly transactional. The goal is to put “politically difficult discussions on the table to be able to unlock files that have been locked so far,” said Cuerpo, who has long campaigned to make EU bodies better at delivering concrete policy decisions. “Building those bridges can then be a good first step towards an overall solution.” The club will also help the six countries coordinate ahead of G7 meetings with Canada, Japan, and the U.S. on strategic issues, such as securing access to critical rare materials, following China’s threat to restrict exports. The E6 club has only convened twice and is already aiming to present EU leaders with specific proposals at the next European Council summit in March. Critics, such as Ireland and Portugal, fear the six-country club could trigger a two-speed Europe, in which the biggest nations will sideline smaller countries that disagree with E6’s agenda — especially when it comes to creating a watchdog to supervise the bloc’s biggest financiers. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has suggested that EU countries should break off into smaller groups and pursue financial integration through “enhanced cooperation,” if the so-called Savings and Investments Union doesn’t progress by June. To focus minds, von der Leyen will produce a roadmap that the E6 hopes to contribute toward, complete with a list of reforms and deadlines for leaders to discuss. The Commission’s first significant policy will be a “28th regime,” an EU-wide legal framework due March 18 that’ll offer companies certain uniform rules to operate easily across the bloc. A SUPERGROUP IS BORN The spark that triggered E6’s emergence came during a ministerial breakfast of coffee and croissants in Brussels on a cold January morning, when Cuerpo’s frustration over EU inaction boiled over. Trump had thrown the NATO alliance into disarray with his renewed demands to “own” Greenland, right after removing the Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro from power. None of these topics had made it onto the ministers’ monthly Ecofin agenda, triggering an outburst from Cuerpo, who lamented the lack of political debate over Europe’s relationship with the U.S. His outburst couldn’t have come at a better time for the finance ministers of France and Germany. The two men, Roland Lescure and Lars Klingbeil, had met just 24 hours earlier to discuss how best to revive EU economic initiatives that had grown stagnant. Invitations for a virtual meeting among E6 countries arrived within a week. Roland Lescure (right) and Lars Klingbeil met to discuss how best to revive EU economic initiatives that had grown stagnant. | Bernd von Jutrczenka/picture alliance via Getty Images “Lars and Roland pushed to convene all six of us and that’s how it got started,” Cuerpo said.  Monday’s discussion focused on strengthening supply chains to critical rare materials and how to quickly progress on deepening the bloc’s financial markets. These included cutting red tape and introducing the so-called 28th regime. The next E6 meeting on March 9 will home in on promoting investment in defense and how to promote the euro on the international stage. MIXED RECEPTION The reception from outside the exclusive group has been mixed. Some believe the E6 could lead to meaningful change, while others fear their voices will be drowned out in the pursuit of swift progress. There’s a third group that believes the six countries will struggle to find common ground at all. Portugal’s finance minister, Joaquim Miranda Sarmento, urged the six countries to respect the EU’s treaties during the Eurogroup on Monday after Germany’s Klingbeil briefed his peers on E6 discussions — a transparency pledge that failed to appease all skeptical ministers and their aides. “EU supervision was the elephant in the room,” one diplomat who attended the Eurogroup said. “I’m surprised more people didn’t speak up.” Legally speaking, the E6 needs at least nine countries to pursue enhanced cooperation. Even then, the legal workaround is only possible once an initiative fails to muster enough support at EU level. Meanwhile, securing a qualified majority to push legislation through requires the backing of 15 countries that represent at least 65 percent of the total EU population. So, the E6 will need allies to advance its goals in any case. To assuage concerns over E6, Cuerpo is encouraging outside countries to join other discussion forums, such as the “Competitiveness Lab,” an open format launched a year ago, to develop common initiatives among governments seeking to deepen their capital markets. In the meantime, Cuerpo is urging skeptical countries to put their faith in something new, beyond Brussels’ creaking legislative machine. “There are no red lines in the discussions within this group,” Cuerpo said. “I think that should be for the benefit of everyone.” Bjarke Smith-Meyer contributed to this report from Brussels.