Week in Review

Benn Burt amendment further complicates but does not rule out any attempt to suspend parliament

Yesterday, MPs approved by 41 votes an amendment to the Northern Ireland (Executive Formation) Bill put forward by Alistair Burt and Hilary Benn which would require MPs to be recalled to debate the situation in Northern Ireland in the event that Parliament is prorogued. This does not make a no-deal Brexit impossible as it remains unclear whether a legal mechanism can be found to prevent it from happening. Nevertheless, it sends an important signal to an incoming Johnson premiership and at the very least complicates any attempt to suspend parliament in order to see through a no deal Brexit.

ESMA proposes harmonised guidelines for how EU mutual funds set performance fees

On 16 July the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published a consultation paper setting out proposed common criteria for calculating fees at EU-regulated UCITS funds —Undertakings for Collective Investments in Transferable Securities. ESMA aims to address the current situation where a lack of harmonisation among EU jurisdictions has created risks of regulatory arbitrage and inconsistent levels of investor protection.

Atlantia chosen to help oversee rescue of national carrier Alitalia

On Monday, Atlantia was chosen as the company with which to work on the saving and restructuring of Alitalia. After spending many weeks refusing the possibility of Atlantia participating in the saving of Alitalia, Deputy Prime Minister Luigi di Maio presented the news as a victory for M5S and has tasked Transport Minister Toninelli with ensuring the plan avoids redundancies. Both Toninelli and Di Maio have since insisted that the issue of whether to revoke Atlantia’s concession to run the motorways of Italy will be treated separately.