Let private money flow to get our economy going again

To stimulate the economic recovery after the COVID pandemic, the EPP Group pushed successfully for changes to the current financial market rules to make private investments easier.

"Our companies desperately need access to finance and the proposed changes in rules will enable financial markets to let more private money flow into businesses and thus make a positive contribution to getting our economy going again", said Markus Ferber MEP, EPP Group Spokesman in the European Parliament's Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee. His comment follows today’s vote in the European Parliament on targeted changes to the rules laid down in the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II).

Ferber, who is the European Parliament’s lead negotiator for MiFID II, underlined that the changes in financial market rules will assure more proportionate investor protection.

"Companies have been bleeding equity due to the pandemic and today’s package will cut down on red tape and make it easier for professional investors to do their job while also insisting on protection for the small retail investors", he stressed.

The transition to a greener future in energy will also benefit from the new rules.

"We aim to strengthen the international role of the Euro by making it easier for newly-developed energy contracts that are traded in Euros to get off the ground. The main benefiters of such a move will be innovative contracts for clean energy that are vital for the energy transition and the Green Deal. I am puzzled how the Greens can keep a straight face when calling for the Green Deal and voting against measures that empower small energy providers at the same time. We have to stop seeing markets as the enemy. If the rules are sensible, financial markets can be a force of good”, concluded Markus Ferber.