The next few weeks will be a crucial period for the Directive as the document’s parliamentary representative, rapporteur Jean-Paul Gauzes, amends his own draft in line with MEP’s expectations. Gauzes has set a deadline of 21 January for members of the Economics and Monetary Affairs (Econ) committee to submit their proposed changes, and Aima hopes to feed into the process via lobbying a number of “sympathetic” cross-party MEPs.

“These amendments represent the logical extension of what would happen if our position paper was turned into a replacement Directive,” Aima chief executive Andrew Baker told HFMWeek. “We’re sharing them with a number of sympathetic MEPs with a view to getting these adopted where appropriate.”

According to Baker, Aima’s 80 amendments cover five-to-six key topics, including depositories, leverage, third-country issues and remuneration – the same Directive sticking points that prevented the last EU Council president, Sweden, from securing a compromise during its tenure.

Directive controversy shows no signs of abating in 2010. Earlier this week, a group of major Dutch pension funds addressed a letter to Econ stating that the implementation of the current draft could result in an annual loss of around €1.5bn ($2.2bn) for Dutch pension funds.