Dear friends, dear interested, Europe is finally moving forward with the regulation of crypto-assets. This is to introduce binding rules for existing cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum and to create a framework for innovative financial services based on blockchain. After the EU Commission presented a legislative proposal for Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) last autumn, […]
Inflation definition of the ECB: Exploding housing costs can no longer be ignored
Dear friends, dear interested, Lately, rents and residential real estate prices in most areas have known only one direction: steeply upwards. But while citizens groan under the exploding costs, officials at the ECB have paradoxically been complaining about too low rates of inflation for a long time. This is in part because housing costs have […]
Greens call on the European Commission to not put the credibility of the Sustainable Finance rules at risk
Yesterday, 24 March 2021, Bas Eickhout, co-rapporteur of the Taxonomy Regulation and Sven Giegold, financial and economic policy spokesperson of the Greens/EFA group have sent a letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis, Vice-President Frans Timmermanns and Finance Commissioner Mairead McGuinness. They call on the Commission to refrain from any […]
Hearing at the European Parliament: Lessons from the Wirecard case – Tue, 23 March, 13h45 – 15h45
Dear friends, dear interested, On my initiative, the European Parliament’s Committee for Economic and Monetary Affairs, jointly with the Committee for Legal Affairs, will hold a hearing on lessons from the Wirecard case tomorrow, 23 March. I am particularly happy that our invitation was accepted by journalist Dan McCrum of the Financial Times whose stubborn […]
Time to take stock: ESMA celebrates its 10th Anniversary
Dear friends, dear interested, The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) is celebrating its birthday. 10 years have passed since its establishment on 1 January 2011. Time to take stock. On the occasion of its anniversary, ESMA is organising a public online conference on 23 March 2021. At the conference, I will join a high-profile […]
Crooked dealings: Market abuse in connection with Cum-Ex and co. must be rigorously prosecuted
Dear friends, dear interested, Billions of euros have been looted from public coffers through Cum-Ex and co. These tax fraud schemes all involve crooked dealings on the financial markets. To obtain refunds for unpaid dividend taxes, the fraudsters have to trade in shares and derivatives on a grand scale. All these transactions have no other […]