The first is indeed good news - as far as it goes! While the massed ranks of politicians in the increasingly maverick EU parliament are unlikely to give up their prey easily having smelt its blood the ECB carries considerable weight and - on the whole - is a respected and sensible body,
The second is the Tiry response to this morning’s disastrous econmic news which flew in the face of almost all forecasts. The amalysts will know better next time than to take Darling-Brown’s predictions seriously.
Christina
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EU OBSERVER 23.10.09
ECB joins chorus attacking EU hedge fund plans
ANDREW WILLIS
The European Central Bank has added its name to the extensive list of critics of EU plans to clamp down on the hedge fund sector, saying over-regulation could drive the industry out of Europe.
The European Commission came forward with a draft directive before the summer to improve regulation of the hedge fund and private equity sectors, with the proposals currently being studied by the European Parliament and member states.
But in a statement published on its website, the ECB says that while it favours stepping up the rules for the lightly regulated sector, the new measures must be mirrored in other countries around the world or else firms in Europe will simply move.
"An internationally co-ordinated response is necessary given the highly international nature of the industry and the consequent risks of regulatory arbitrage and evasion," said the ECB.
"The ECB urges the commission to continue the dialogue with its international partners, in particular the United States, to ensure a globally coherent regulatory and supervisory framework," it added.
The commission plans call for the registration and regulation of all "alternative investment funds".
The funds would be obliged to disclose information on the types of assets it invests in as well as provide details on their use of short selling, one of the tactics blamed for exacerbating the financial crisis.
Non-EU fund managers would also be obliged to comply with the rules if they wished to sell their products within the bloc.
But consensus is growing amongst bankers and EU officials that the commission's ‘one-size-fits-all' approach for all types of funds is too simplistic and needs alteration.
The Swedish EU presidency aims to have some level of agreement on the plans by the end of the year, but a full vote in the European Parliament is unlikely before the second half of 2010.
Prominent Socialists such as MEP Poul Nyrup Rasmussen have attacked the commission proposals as being too weak, while the industry itself has been lobbying hard to have them watered down.
London's mayor, Boris Johnson, visited Brussels last month in an attempt to seek terms more favourable to the EU's financial capital.
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CONSERVATIVE HOME 23.10.09
British economy has shrunk by 5.9%
“This Chancellor is leading the rest of the world in taking us out of recession.”
- Gordon Brown, 3rd June 2009
“Britain is better placed than other economies to withstand the slowdown in the global economy… the reforms we have made since 1997 – independence for the Bank of England and tough fiscal rules – mean that Britain is now more resilient and better prepared to deal with future shocks.”
- Alistair Darling, 12th March 2008
This morning's media were predicting that today's economic data would confirm that Britain was OUT of recession. Those predictions were wrong. The UK economy shrank by 0.4% in Q3 according to the Office of National Statistics. The economy has shrunk by 5.9% since the start of the recession. We've been in recession six months longer than France and Germany.
This statement from George Osborne has just been released by CCHQ:
"This is deeply disappointing news. Britain is now in the deepest and longest recession in its modern history. Britain's economy is still shrinking a full six months after France and Germany started growing. We now know that Gordon Brown's recession plan has not worked, and this news has destroyed Labour's claim that Britain was better placed than other countries to weather the storms. There is now no confidence in Gordon Brown's economic policies - he has no banking plan, no debt plan and no growth plan. The whole country is suffering from this lack of leadership. Britain urgently needs new economic leadership - and needs it now. We need a Conservative Government to Get Britain Working again."
Tim Montgomerie
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