de larosiere report, the ecofin council has charged the commission to reinforce the so - called “ infrastructure legislation ” referring to the procedures for the prevention and resolution of crises of cross - border groups. the economic and financial committee has been asked to develop proposals to improve the cooperation mechanisms for managing crises at these intermediaries. ( i ) the instruments for managing crises. in the first place significantly increased harmonization of legislation on the instruments for managing crises is necessary. in fact the large disparities between member states with regard to national authorities ’ powers and responsibilities in early interventions and the procedures for resolving crises prevent the coordinated management of interventions involving cross - border groups. the commission has undertaken to present proposals for european legislation in this field shortly. the procedures laid down in the italian legislation on the management of banking crises, which include preventive measures, have proved effective and could be a useful model for guiding the work carried out at the european level. the possibility of introducing a common procedure for the management of the crises of cross - border banking groups should also be weighed. if this were not feasible, at least the application of the directive on the winding up of credit institutions could be extended to the subsidiaries of foreign banks, as a first step towards a greater degree of harmonization in this field. ( ii ) the removal of obstacles to the transfer of assets within the european union. progress is needed in the harmonization of company and bankruptcy law to remove the obstacles that prevent the transfer of assets and liquidity between the various components of cross - border banking groups. the possibility of ring - fencing assets held in a country leads in fact to solutions that are rational from the standpoint of individual member states but inefficient in terms of enhancing the value of the group ’ s assets ; in some cases ring - fencing may even accelerate insolvency and complicate the management of the crisis. ( iii ) deposit insurance schemes. the commission is also working to reduce the disparities still present in the working of deposit insurance schemes. the recent revision of the directive raised the levels of coverage and shortened reimbursement times, but it did not reduce the wide margins of discretion member states enjoy regarding the funding of the schemes, or the conditions for and the characteristics of the interventions. in promoting a greater degree of harmonization of these aspects, it should also be possible to consider a common deposit guarantee scheme at european level, which could interact with national deposit protection schemes and make an inval

– ( 3 ) excludes liabilities in connection with bilateral loans to emu member countries and italy ’ s capital contribution to the esm ; loans disbursed through the efsf are not included in the state sector borrowing requirement. figure 4 gross yields on bots and 10 - year btps, average cost and average residual maturity of debt ( per cent and year ) source : istat, for interest expenses. ( 1 ) ratio between interest expense in the preceding 4 quarters and the stock of the debt at the end of the year - earlier quarter. – ( 2 ) the yield at issue is the average, weighted by the issue amounts allotted, of the compound allotment rates at the auctions settled during the month. – ( 3 ) average monthly yield at maturity of the benchmark traded on the online government securities market. – ( 4 ) right - hand scale. designed by the printing and publishing division of the bank of italy