The European Council of 18-9 October 2012 has confirmed its decision to support the European Banking Union for the euro area. The Single Supervisory mechanism, centralising banking supervision at the European Central bank is the first, most directly applicable building block in this Union. The Commission proposals, published on 12 September and to be adopted before the end of 2012, have stirred ample political, financial and technical interest. The present paper gives a first legal and technical analysis of these proposals, referring also to some of the discussions that have already sprung up and identifying a few of the controversial points.