Alfred Sant maħtur bħala r-Rapporteur għall-Att dwar il-“Listing”

L-eks Prim Ministru Alfred Sant inħatar bħala r-Rapporteur għall-Att dwar il-“Listing”. Huwa se jkun in-negozjatur ewlieni kemm għas-S&D kif ukoll għall-Kumitat Eknomiku u Finanzjarju tal-Parlament Ewropew (ECON) dwar din il-proposta leġiżlattiva.

Sant qed jipproponi li jitressaq abbozz tar-rapport f’Ġunju. Dan se jkun segwit minn diskussjoni u votazzjoni, l-ewwel fil-Kumitat Ekonomiku tal-Parlament Ewropew, aktar tard fil-plenarja tal-Parlament. Dan il-proċess għandu jintemm sal-aħħar tas-sena. Wara dan, huwa ttamat li jintlaħaq ftehim finali dwar il-bidliet proposti sal-bidu tar-rebbiegħa tal-2024, qabel it-tmiem tal-mandat parlamentari preżenti. Ġiet stabbilita skadenza biex jitqiegħed fuq il-mejda abbozz ta’ Rapport għal nofs Ġunju, bil-voti tal-kumitat u l-plenarja fil-ħarifa li ġejja, u jiġi ffinalizzat il-ftehim mal-Kummissjoni Ewropea u l-Kunsill sa Marzu 2024.

Il-maġġoranza tan-negozji fl-Unjoni Ewropea huma negozji żgħar u medji (SMEs). Fil-perjodu mill-2010 sal-2020, numru żgħir biss ta’ SMEs Ewropej qalu li ġabru finanzjament estern permezz tas-swieq kapitali (4%), filwaqt li kwart użaw self bankarju, u wieħed minn kull ħamsa użaw krediti kummerċjali jew fondi interni minn negozju għal ieħor.

Il-proposta għandha l-għan li tiżviluppa aktar l-Unjoni tas-Swieq Kapitali tal-Unjoni Ewropea billi tagħmel is-swieq kapitali tal-Unjoni aktar attraenti għall-impriżi ta’ daqs żgħar u medju (SMEs). L-għanijiet tagħha huma li tissimplifika r-rekwiżiti għal kif kumpaniji jħejju l-prospectus tagħhom li bih joħorġu sejħiet lill-investituti biex jixtru l-bonds u l-ishma li joffru għall-bejgħ fuq is-swieq tal-ishma. L-Unjoni tas-Swieq Kapitali tipprova tistabbilixxi suq wieħed Ewropew fejn dan jista’ jiġri u tnaqqas l-isparpaljar tas-suq minħabba li kull pajjiż għandu liġijiet tiegħu u japplikaw għal kif jitmexxa s-suq kapitali. Għan ieħor tal-proposta huwa li tippermetti fis-swieq kapitali tal-Unjoni Ewropea l-ħruġ ta’ ishma li jkollhom drittijiet ta’ vot differenti minn xulxin.

Bħala r-rapporteur għall-Att dwar il-“Listing”, Alfred Sant kellu sensiela ta’ laqgħat “one-to-one” ma’ atturi istituzzjonali u partijiet interessati differenti. Dawn kienu jinkludu laqgħat mat-tim responsabbli mill-Kummissjoni Ewropea, mill-Kunsill tal-Ministri u membri oħra mill-Parlament Ewropew. Saru aktar minn 30 konsultazzjoni ma’ rappreżentanti ta’ boroż tan-negozju, assoċjazzjonijiet ta’ kumpaniji li joħorġu l-ishma tagħhom għall-bejgħ, rappreżentanti ta’ banek, aġenziji regolatorji inkluż l-ESMA, il-korp Ewropew li jissorvelja s-swieq kapitali fl-Ewropa, u għaqdiet tal-investituri.

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Alfred Sant appointed as the Rapporteur for the Listing Act

Former Prime Minister Alfred Sant has been appointed as the Rapporteur for the Listing Act. He will be the lead negotiator for both the S&D as well as for the Economic and Financial Committee of the European Parliament (ECON) regarding this legislative proposal.

Sant is proposing to table a draft report during June. This will be followed by a discussion and voting, first in the European Parliament’s Economic Committee, later in the European Parliament’s plenary. This process should be over by the end year. Following this, it is hoped that a final agreement on the proposed changes will be reached by early spring 2024, before the end of the present parliamentary mandate. A deadline to table a draft Report for mid-June was set, having committee and plenary votes next autumn, and finalise the agreement with the European Commission and Council by March 2024.

The majority of businesses in the European Union are SMEs. In the period from 2010 to 2020, only a small proportion of European SMEs said that they raised external financing through capital markets (4 %), while a quarter used bank loans, and a fifth used business-to-business trade credits or internal funds. 

The proposal aims at further developing the European Union’s Capital Markets Union (CMU) and to make the Union’s capital markets more attractive. Its objectives is to simplify the listing and post-listing requirements on stock markets by which companies can issue calls to the rest of society by which they seek to attract investment in their operations via the purchase of bonds and shares that they offer for sale. The Capital Markets Union tries to establish a European market where this can happen and reduce the fragmentation of the market caused by national laws. Another aim of the proposal is to allow in European Union capital markets the issue of shares which do not have the same voting rights.

As the rapporteur for the “Listing” Act, Alfred Sant had a series of “one-to-one” meetings with institutional players and stakeholders. These included meetings with the team responsible from the European Commission, the Council of Ministers and other members of the European Parliament. More than 30 consultations were held with representatives of business exchanges, associations of companies that issue their shares for sale, representatives of banks, regulatory agencies including ESMA, the European body which oversees capital markets in Europe, and investors’ unions.