A top financial advisor to the European Union is echoing NYSE Group Chairman John Thain’s warnings about hedge funds’ role in stock exchange consolidation. Graham Bishop said the EU’s new markets in financial instruments directive – due next year – will spark “a period of huge changes,” and should not be ignored. “It’s not the time to make far-reaching decisions until we see things unfold,” he told Reuters. “To be bullied into it by a couple of hedge funds seems inappropriate.” In a report issued on Europe’s stock exchanges, Bishop urges “a long, thoughtful process” prior to consolidation. Hedge funds have injected themselves into the debate, taking big stakes in the continent’s main exchange operators: the London Stock Exchange, Deutsche Börse and Euronext. Hedgies already managed to kill Deutsche Börse’s proposed acquisition of the LSE, and are now making rumblings against the NYSE’s deal for Euronext. This week, Thain lashed out at hedge fund The Childrens Investment Fund, which played a key role in the Deutsche Börse-LSE affair, arguing that it’s best interests were not necessarily the same as Euronext’s.