Debate: Amendments to the European Long-Term Investment Funds  Regulation
Date: TUESDAY, 14 FEBRUARY 2023
Speaker: Mairead McGuinness
Language: EN

This reform is the first of our November 2021 Capital Markets Union package to actually get through the process, so I think it leads the way. And it is very timely because we know that the capital markets are important. We need to develop them and we know, indeed, that the Council conclusions of last week endorse our work on the Capital Markets Union. Both the net-zero transition and the digital transition will require hundreds of billions of euros, and public financing cannot meet these investment needs alone. So we do need private financing for our long-term competitiveness and prosperity, and that relies on well-functioning and well-developed capital markets. We need many measures to make the Capital Markets Union a reality, and the ELTIF reform is one of those measures. In fact, ELTIF, if you like, embodies what we want to achieve with the Capital Markets Union. These long-term investment funds and the CMU are about long-term investment in the green and digital transition, and these are vital to our future. This reform will help channel tens of billions of euro into our economy – as I said, in the green and digital. This will help our SMEs. It will also be invested in social, transport, energy and green infrastructure projects and in digital projects. The CMU is about enabling EU citizens to invest for their future, and this reform will unlock new investment opportunities for all citizens. It will open up new types of investment currently reserved for large institutions and high net worth individuals. And it will do this in a safe and regulated manner. So I want to thank the co-legislators for the changes you made to our proposal, especially for making the rules simpler and more flexible. On fund rules, ELTIFs get more flexibility in terms of fund-of-fund strategies and diversification limits. That will help them compete with other products that have similar investment objectives. On investor protection, the co-legislators struck the right balance between ensuring effective safeguards and removing unnecessary hurdles for retail investors. On sustainability, the co-legislators recognised green bonds as a category of investment assets eligible for ELTIFs. And finally, I would like to note that this reform – as the rapporteur has already mentioned – is a success. We have early indications from market participants that dozens of ELTIFs are due to be launched in the near future, and this would not have been possible without your work to revise this regulation. So my sincere thanks to the European Parliament, to Mr Hoogeveen, for keeping a high level of ambition for this reform. And I look forward to an exchange of views, because very often the debates in this House are difficult but this one – I think – unites us. And if I may say – as I wear the green – I’ve just come from a reception marking 50 years of my Member State’s membership of the European Union. And while not many will be here to listen to this debate, all of the components that I talk about – that you have worked on – are important for European citizens. And I think we need to reflect on that and to thank you very sincerely for that work.