On Wednesday 22 March, the committee on economic and monetary affairs of the European Parliament adopted its negotiating position on the Commission's proposal to revise the regulations of European law on the activities of the European venture capital (EuVECA) (Regulation 345/2013) and social entrepreneurship funds (EuSEF) (Regulation 346/2013).
The Commission presented this proposal in July of this year in the framework of its Capital Market Union project (EUROPE 11594).
Amongst other things, the proposal aims to give managers of venture capital fund portfolios of more than €500 million and which fall within the scope of application of the directive on alternative investment funds access to the EuVECA and EuSEF markets. They will continue to be bound by the requirements of the directive and various rules of both regulations.
Like the Council, Parliament adopted the relaxed definition of SMEs in which a fund may invest some of the capital subscribed by its clients in order to obtain a European passport. As in the Council's position, the maximum number of employees of an eligible SME rises from 250 to 499.
The Commission decided to leave alone the highly political issue of the minimum threshold for each investor, which is set at €100,000, but the MEPs brought this figure down to €50,000.
The MEPs also brought in capital requirements for both types of fund at €30,000 and agreed that own funds should continue to represent at least one eighth of the fixed costs of the previous year. They also tightened up the role of the supervisor of the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA).
The Council reached its position in December of last year (see EUROPE 11691), meaning that inter-institutional negotiations may now start. (Original version in French by Élodie Lamer)