Dear friends, dear interested,
The wild rollercoaster ride of the GameStop share and other securities had financial markets hold their breath in recent weeks. Seemingly, retail investors were able to annoy the biggest financial players by joining forces and turning their own tricks against them. Admittedly, I found that kind of cool. But at the same time, the events brought into focus a number of weaknesses in the financial system. As a European legislator, I am asking what lessons Europe should learn from the GameStop episode. Should we regulate excessive short selling more strictly? Where to draw the line between financial flash mobs and market manipulation? And wouldn’t it be high time for a serious financial transaction tax?
To discuss these and other questions, the European Parliament’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs will hold an expert hearing on the GameStop case on 23 February 2021 on my initiative. In particular, Steven Maijoor, Chairman of the European Securities and Markets Authority ESMA and Ugo Bassi, Head of the Financial Markets Division of the European Commission, will assess the events from a European perspective. The hearing can be followed online.
Date: Tuesday, 23 February 2021, 14:45 – 16:15
Livestream: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/committees/en/econ/meetings/webstreaming
Last week, I had already drawn some first conclusions from the GameStop case here.
With green European greetings,
Sven Giegold
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Link to the livestream of the expert hearing in the ECON Committee on 23 February 2021 from 14:45 to 16:15:
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/committees/en/econ/meetings/webstreaming
My analysis of the GameStop episode:
https://sven-giegold.de/en/gamestop-frenzy/
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P.S. Petition: Digital Tax Now! – Shops are closing, Amazon & Co are making huge profits without paying their fair share of tax: a digital tax must come now! Together we have the chance to finally overcome the blockade on the digital tax: Please sign our petition and share it with your contacts! https://www.change.org/digitaltax-now