Time for a second reading?

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In this edition of AIFMD News we look at the most controversial aspects of the discussions in the Council of Ministers, including the Spanish Presidency compromise position on third countries which caused the directive to be removed from the agenda of the EcoFin Council on 16 March. We draw comparisons between the Council position and the evolving views in the European Parliament's Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee (ECON) as discussed during the second exchange of views in the Committee on 17 March.

Contrary to some reports, particularly in the UK press, the AIFMD has not been shelved. Discussions will continue in the Council and the ECON Committee will push forward in developing its own position with a vote still planned in April.

However, there are some growing divergences in views between the Council and the European Parliament. For example, in addition to the third country issue on which ECON is moving towards an approach which is closely aligned to the initial Commission proposal, the European Parliament has tabled a new, and ambitious, approach to the Directive's scope which would look to embed the proportionality principle in the Level 1 text. We feel that such issues warrant further debate. We suggest, in this paper, that opening up the possibility a second reading at this stage may provide the necessary breathing space for these very complex and intrinsically important issues to be appropriately resolved.