Brussels, 07/03/2014 (Agence Europe) -Saïd El Khadraoui MEP (S&D, Belgium) has deplored the pressure exerted by industry and a “noisy minority” at the European Parliament's economic committee to postpone the money market funds regulation proposed last September by the European Commission, to the next legislature.
On Friday 7 March, Khadraoui explained to EUROPE that the EPP Group, encouraged by Gay Mitchell from Ireland, had decided not to vote for a common position during this parliament. The ECR supported this demand, arguing that it wanted to be able to examine the text further. Khadraoui said that this argument did not hold water because “the texts have been ready for a long time”.
The idea is to provide a liquidities cushion for the CNAV money market funds and provide constant remuneration despite market fluctuations. Khadraoui explained that these represent systemic risk and he highlighted the need for safety measures in periods of stress, to avoid massive panic-induced withdrawals. The Belgian MEP intends to call for a vote at the committee on the principle of whether or not they should develop a common position under the current parliament. The text was due to be voted on on Monday 10 March and has already been postponed on two previous occasions. The leader of the economic committee, Sharon Bowles (ALDE, United Kingdom), also supports the postponement and, according to Khadraoui, would prefer to adopt a common position on the text that is backed by a large majority. (EL)