The European Parliament's plenary vote on short-selling regulations, which it originally hoped would take place on 5 April, has been delayed until June 2011 at the earliest.
A spokesperson at the Parliament has confirmed that the Hungarian presidency of the Council of the European Union, which comprises representatives from its member states, wishes to reach a consensus on short-selling between the Parliament and the Council, the EU's decision-making bodies, before a vote is made.
This would allow a common proposal voted on by both bodies to be passed immediately into legislation.
The presidency hopes to achieve this agreement by mid-May. If a single approach is not agreed, the Parliament will hold its plenary vote based on the proposal made by its Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee (ECON) committee in June.
If a common approach is found, the vote will be postponed until July 2011 at which point both Council and Parliament will vote it though.
On 8 March, ECON voted through an amended version of the text proposed by the European Commission on 15 September 2010, which severely restricted short selling but dropped the public disclosure of short-selling positions.