On Wednesday 15 February, the European Parliament rejected the proposed resolutions of the S&D, GUE/NGL and Greens/EFA groups calling on the members of the European Parliament to reject two proposed implementing regulations of the 'MiFID II' (2014/65) directive aiming to limit financial speculation on the raw materials markets.
The MEPs have therefore decided to take a leaf out of the member states' book and not object to these two implementing measures, which will be able to enter into force as proposed by the European Commission (see EUROPE 11680).
In December of last year, the Commission suggested a methodology to calculate the position limits to allow the competent authorities to lay down the maximum number of financial products derived from raw materials (agricultural and energy products, for instance) that a single investor may hold. It proposed criteria to identify when a producer acquires raw materials derivatives as protection against the risks inherent to the profession, in which case this producer would not be subjected to the same prudential rules as an actual trader.
The Greens/EFA group takes the view that the implementing measures are an “extremely poor interpretation of what the Directive provides for”. “Basic foodstuffs continue to be subjected to speculative trade, which creates large-scale crises as we saw in 2008 and 2010, plunging the farmers of the South and the North into financial hardship. The hardest thing still remains to be done: banning speculation on agricultural products to ensure that no speculative bubble can burst and send prices soaring”, said José Bové (Greens/EFA, France) in a press release (our translation). (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)