WDM campaign supports food speculation controls in Europe

Related tags European union European commission Us

A campaign is in full flight to build public support for European curbs on excessive food commodity speculation and prevent US over-the-counter traders moving to ‘light touch Europe’.

Speaking outside the Food Justice conference in London this week, World Development Movement (WDM) campaigner Heidi Chow said that historical controls on over-the-counter trading (OTC), put in place in the 1930s, have been eroded by financial lobbyists. Secretive OTC trading is understood to be one of the reasons behind the 2007/8 food price crisis, along with other factors.

The implementation details of the US Dodd-Franck Wall Street Reform and the European Commission is consulting over parallel moves. However the UK has traditionally veered away from regulation, and there is concern that crucial UK votes against it could stand in the way of an EU move. Chow explained that if the European Commission does not regulate in parallel, OTC traders from the US may flee to “light touch Europe”.

The WDM campaign is aiming to build up public pressure to get the UK government behind the European moves.

More information on the WDM campaign is available here.