In October 2012 an important debate and vote took place in the European Parliament in respect of the legislation to regulate Food Speculation within the European Union.
For anyone who can make the time the recording of the debate, with translation, is available here and there is a related news update here
It gives some useful insights both into the workings of European Parliamentary sessions for anyone, like me, who hadn’t viewed them before and the issues that the re-write of the EU Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MIFID) and the related regulations (MIFIR) is aiming to address.
There are some interesting and varied contributions. Unsurprisingly really, I found that I wanted to cheer when Arlene McCarthy MEP spoke and I wanted to jeer when Roger Helmer MEP spoke, but his sales pitch for the City of London (as remarked by the MEP who spoke after him) drew a thoughtful response from Commissioner Barnier toward the end of the debate. There was also an interesting contribution from Jurgen Klute MEP who clearly viewed NGO involvement as very constructive and as a reality check for the parliament (I’m paraphrasing hoping that this might entice a few downloads).
Although it’s a sizeable download and listen, at approx 400Mb and 1.5 hours respectively, for anyone who is interested and able to make the time it’s worth doing I would say. I’m sure anyone who disagrees will tell me at the next WDM AGM.
The outcome of the related vote and the considerations arising for campaigners are summarised very well in the November 2012 issue of Think Global.
