Antoine Begasse is the new counsellor at the economic and financial section of the EU delegation to the United States in Washington. He talks about his job, the relationship between the EU and the US – and what he thinks his biggest challenges will be.

What exactly is your role in the delegation?

I’m DG FISMA’s representative in the EU delegation. A large part of my job is to liaise with US regulatory agencies to explain the financial services developments in the EU. Similarly, I follow regulatory developments in the US and provide headquarters in Brussels with insight from the US. I find it very interesting to be able to make the EU position better understood in the States and to explain to my colleagues in Brussels what the US approach is to certain issues.

I also represent DG FISMA in the United States and organise high-level visits to the US. For example, I recently organised the visit of Vice-President Dombrovskis to New York and Washington DC for the IMF and World Bank Spring meetings.

What do you think are the most important issues in the EU/US financial regulatory relationship?

It is very important to ensure good regulatory cooperation based on mutual trust and understanding. Markets are global and interdependent. So regulatory actions on both sides of the Atlantic need to be consistent and based on international standards to ensure financial stability.

The EU-US Regulatory Forum takes place twice a year. It allows us to build and maintain mutual trust. It also helps us to avoid duplicative and conflicting regulatory requirements and to anticipate unintended consequences of respective regulatory initiatives.

In terms of specific policy areas, we pay, for example, particular attention to the level playing field between US and EU financial institutions carrying out similar activities in the US. The delegation also promotes EU sustainable finance policy developments. Privacy issues and the challenges they create for supervisors are also generating a lot of interest in the US.

What was your job before taking this position?

Before taking this position, I worked in the sustainable finance project team, where I drafted, together with my colleagues, the European Commission’s action plan on “Financing Sustainable Growth” published in March 2018. Before that, I was working in the accounting and non-financial reporting unit of DG FISMA, where I was dealing with the non-financial reporting directive and other transparency issues. I also worked on equivalence with third-party jurisdictions. It was my first professional experience dealing with international partners.

What’s it like living in Washington?

Washington is a wonderful city! It is a very international city full of diplomats and there’s a lot going on all the time. Washington is relatively small and I am always quite surprised to see senior politicians or officials in public places. The city is also very interesting from a cultural and historical perspective. There is a lot to do and to see.