41 members of the 'economic and monetary affairs' committee (ECON) of the European Parliament wish to bring pressure to bear on the European Central Bank to shed light on its CSPP programme to acquire bonds from private corporations.
The question put to the ECB, which was drawn up under the leadership of Ramon Tremosa i Balcells (ALDE, Spain) calls on the Frankfurt-based monetary institute and the national central banks of the Eurozone to publish the names of the programme's beneficiary companies and a breakdown of the bonds acquired.
In response to a question put by Tremosa i Balcells at a meeting of the ECON committee on Monday 29 May, the ECB President, Mario Draghi, rejected the idea of increased transparency (see EUROPE 11797). This reaction came as an unpleasant surprise to the MEPs, so much so that 26 of them immediately decided to rally to the initiative, according to a source close to the Catalan Liberal MEP.
The MEPs are calling for transparency on the CSPP programme as they fear it is a disguised subsidy to companies that may bring about competition distortions through monetary policy. The Spanish newspaper Expansión revealed that 53% of the private bonds purchased by the ECB in Spain benefited just three groups - Telefónica, Iberdrola and Repsol.
Since June 2016, the ECB has purchased €75 billion worth of bonds from private companies under the CSPP programme. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)