European Union negotiators are thought to have failed to reach an agreement on the revised IORP Directive at a trialogue meeting that lasted until early morning today (16 June), but, according to the chair of the European Parliament’s economic and monetary affairs committee (ECON), they are “close to a deal”.

Robert Gualtieri made the comment in a post on Twitter at around 3:30 CET this morning, adding that the negotiators had made “very good progress”. 

Brian Hayes, Irish MEP and IORP II rapporteur, had earlier turned to the social media platform to provide an update on the negotiations. 

“IORP negotiations continuing late into the night,” he said. “Making progress but still a lot to be decided.”

Although neither explicitly stated so, the negotiations – between the European Parliament, the European Commission and member states – are understood to have failed to produce a final revised IORP Directive.

IPE contacted Hayes for confirmation but did not hear back by the time of publication.

IPE understands that a seventh trialogue meeting is due to take place before the Dutch presidency lapses at the end of June.

Slovakia then assumes the presidency until the end of the year.

Jeroen Dijsselbloem, Dutch finance minister and president of the Europgroup, had on Tuesday said he hoped last night’s meeting would be the last and that the negotiations were “close to successful closure”.

Cross-border funding is likely to have been the main hurdle to reaching an agreement last night, according to a source, having been the most challenging item over the months previous. 

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