European Parliament

The EU’s retail investment package will come up for a vote at the Parliament’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs on the evening of Wednesday, 20 March.

Luxembourg is leading the way in Europe when it comes to crypto and blockchain technology. With MiCA, a new set of regulations from the European Parliament, Luxembourg’s early bet on cryptocurrency has been validated. We spoke with Nasir Zubairi, CEO of LHoFT - Luxembourg House of Financial Technology, who sees this as an opportunity for cryptocurrencies and crypto assets to enter mainstream markets within EU countries, and heard from banking association ABBL.

For Luxembourg’s crypto community, Thursday’s adoption of the MiCA regulation in the European Parliament reassures established financial players and offers an EU passportable licensing regime with no need for national transposition in member states. “It enables new ways of issuance and distribution of new types of assets,” said ABBL.

The European Parliament in Strasbourg on Wednesday (15 February) adopted the eagerly anticipated upgrade of the EU regulation for long-term investment funds, a package known as Eltif 2.0. An overwhelming majority of 492 members, or 70 percent, voted in favour.

As the European Parliament, during this month’s plenary session in Strasbourg, debated the proposed changes to the EU’s regulation for long-term investment funds, a plan also known as Eltif 2.0, Luxembourg was discussing a “lighter” special tax regime for this new type of fund that can target investors in 30 European countries under a single passport.

Luxembourg’s fund industry has high hopes for Eltif 2.0, the revised European regime for long-term investment funds that is set to be approved next month by the European Parliament. Thanks to the updated rules, products like private funds can be targeted directly at retail investors in all 30 countries in the European Economic Area with one single AIFM passport.

The European Council and the European Parliament have taken an important step towards the implementation of a new sustainability reporting system in Europe. It concerns the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, or CSRD, which requires companies to have their reported sustainability information independently verified.

Members of the European Parliament on Tuesday rejected a proposal by the European Commission to treat nuclear energy and natural gas as sustainable economic activities. If the vote is confirmed by absolute majority in the July 7 plenary meeting, the Commission’s proposal to update the EU taxonomy for sustainable activities will be sent back to the drawing board.