THE FUTURE OF THE EUROPEAN SYSTEM OF FINANCIAL SUPERVISION: BALANCING STABILITY AND TRANSFORMATION

The article offers a comprehensive legal analysis of the development of the European Union’s financial regulatory and supervisory framework in the post-crisis period, beginning with the reforms that followed the 2008 financial crisis. The study focuses on the evolution of the European System of Financial Supervision (ESFS) – comprising the European Supervisory Authorities (ESMA, EBA, EIOPA) and the European Systemic Risk Board (ESRB) – against the backdrop of deepening financial-market integration, digital transformation and the expansion of macroprudential regulation. Special attention is paid to institutional interaction between microprudential and macroprudential levels of supervision, as well as to the legal implications of the persistent asymmetry of competences between supranational EU bodies and national supervisory authorities. On the basis of an analysis of the medium-term strategies and work programs of ESMA, the EBA, EIOPA and the ESRB, the paper identifies the key directions of transformation in the EU’s supervisory model, including the expansion of the European agencies’ direct supervisory and regulatory powers, the strengthened role of regulatory technical standards, the development of digital and data-driven supervisory instruments and the systemic integration of ESG factors into financial regulation. Separate section examines current EU regulatory initiatives – in particular the MiCA, DORA and EMIR 3 regulations, as well as the concept of a Savings and Investments Union – assessing their impact on the reallocation of supervisory functions and the modification of the legal regime governing the operation of financial markets. The conclusion argues that the contemporary EU financial-legal architecture is undergoing a structural transformation characterized by the simultaneous intensification of regulatory centralization and heightened requirements for legitimacy, proportionality and institutional balance within the system of financial supervision.