BERLIN (MNI) – The German government cabinet will adopt in two
weeks a bill confirming the ban on short selling introduced by directive
this week, Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said Thursday.
“We will draw up the law very quickly,” Schaeuble announced at a
conference on financial market regulation here. “We will adopt a draft
law in the cabinet in the week after next.”
The minister rejected criticism that Germany had not consulted its
partners before announcing the short-selling ban. Germany’s financial
watchdog BaFin had been in contact with similar institutions of other
countries about the measure, he claimed.
Schaeuble acknowledged that the decision to ban short-selling on
certain assets was also linked to Friday’s parliamentary vote on
Germany’s share of the EU aid bill. The government wanted to show that
it is not only announcing but also acting when it comes to financial
market regulation, he said.
The minister was confident about the outcome of Friday’s vote by
the lower house of parliament on the EU aid bill. “I assume that we will
get a majority in the Bundestag,” he said.
In other remarks, the minister reaffirmed his belief that a
framework for an orderly insolvency for EMU member states needed to be
drawn up. He argued that the EU task force on fiscal reforms should be
able to come up with solutions on the matter.
A temporary exit of member states from the EMU, however, is not a
practicable solution, he argued.
–Berlin bureau: +49-30-22 62 05 80; email: twidder@marketnews.com
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