Omnibus II Plenary delayed until March 2014 - 2016 out of the question?

Confirmation was provided today, if needed, that the Omnibus II Plenary vote was being pushed back into 2014 - that it needs until March 2014 perhaps underlines the swell of discord at the trilogue table, all of whom have seemingly been digesting EIOPA's long term guarantees report for, well, a long term...

Solvency II Spuds - hoofed

While July and August naturally died a death while the Eurocracy topped up their tans, any thoughts that compromise and camaraderie were on the various parties minds can now be unequivocally hoofed in the spuds, as can any notion of January 2014 being a meaningful date for anyone aside from EIOPA, its national satellites, and the 'soft launch' we have seemingly acquired.

A few of the Big 4's rather underemployed Solvency II experts have commented today on this latest delay and the rammifications, which contrasts against the optimism shown yesterday on Risk.net  by Insurance Europe in particular. I guess what is particularly disappointing is that the ITER listings haven't changed in respect of Omnibus II before and after the summer break (here and here), so why wasn't something said earlier?

I had already blogged on the shifting sands before the summer break, and the stance of BaFin in particular, and it would appear a market analyst sees the German approach (including an uncited reference of a desire for 20 year transitionals) as being a genuine show stopper, rather than a mere irritant.

That may be a touch dramatic, but by shifting the Plenary vote to March, when retiring/deselected MEPs will be on autopilot, and careerists will be electioneering (indeed, Primary activity starts before the end of 2013), is the trilogue's hope that this might squeeze through via fatigue-inspired lack of inquisition? Does the alternative of a fresh crop of politicians picking holes in the work of technical experts from summer 2014 bear thinking about?

Finally, with Sr. Bernadino having already pronounced that 2016 would not be viable without Omnibus II agreement having been reached by the end of this year, can we provisionally move on to 2017 as the new 'go live' date?