Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, the driving force behind the European Union's controversial proposed directive on the regulation of alternative investment fund managers, today opened the door for its critics to push for changes by accepting the need for a full impact assessment.

Rasmussen, a former prime minister of Denmark who is now president of the Party of European Socialists, was debating the issues raised by the directive this afternoon in an open forum in the City of London with Treasury minister Lord Myners and representatives of the hedge funds and private equity industries.