At the beginning of October, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) announced that the objective of January 2017 for the implementation of the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive II (MiFID II) would not be feasible anymore. The key obstacle to a timely implementation are problems with the deployment of IT systems. A properly functioning IT infrastructure is in turn crucial for the functioning of the MiFID II rules. Simultaneously, European Parliament, Council, Commission and ESMA work on the technical implementation of the details of the MiFID II directive. This includes the elaboration of rules to curb food speculation. In cooperation with the rapporteur Markus Ferber (EPP/CSU), the social democratic shadow rapporteur Anneliese Dodds (Labour), the Greens have been critizising ESMA and European Commission for months, since both of them attempt to weaken the restrictions on food speculation, thereby undermining important results of the Europein Parliament´s negotiation efforts. As a final step, European Parliament and Council still have the option to reject the proposals on the technical implementation of MiFID II. Therefore, it would is advisable for the Commission not to ignore the European Parliament´s demands.
Commenting on the delay of the MiFID II implementation, Green finance spokesperson Sven Giegold said:
“The delay of the implementation of the MiFID II directive must not be exploited to water down financial regulation by means of the small print. A functioning IT infrastructure is crucial to achieve an effective MiFID II implementation. Therefore, the MiFID II delay is annoying red tape, but cannot be avoided. Nevertheless, IT problems must not be used as a smokescreen to delay the legislative work on MiFID II. All market participants including businesses and consumers need legal certainty by means of a fast adoption of all technical standards. This is the only way which allows them to benefit from the strengths of this framework such as enhanced market transparency and improved consumer protection. Therefore, the conclusion of the legislative work on MiFID II must not be delayed. In a letter to Commissioner Hill, a cross-party alliance of the European Parliament highlighted how this objective could be achieved: the Commission should take the European Parliament’s demands seriously, specifically in regards to the rules to curb food speculation.”
Please find the letter of the European Parliament´s MiFID II negotiating team to Commissioner Hill on the implementation of the MiFID II rules, especially in regards to restricting food speculation, here: https://sven-giegold.de/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/D51226_Hill_Regulatory-technical-standards-under-MiFID-II_MiFIR.pdf