Brussels, Feb. 3, 2025 (Lusa) - The European Commission on Monday launched a consultation to hear from consumers, businesses, civil society and the authorities of the European Union (EU) member states to put forward a proposal for a Savings and Investment Union in the first quarter of this year.
"The Commission has launched a call for evidence to gather input on its overall approach to the Savings and Investment Union. The aim is to gather opinions, facts and evidence from consumers and stakeholders on the progress made in the Capital Markets Union, as well as to identify the significant challenges that the Savings and Investment Union must address," the institution said in a statement.
Quoted in the note, the European Commissioner responsible for Financial Services and the Savings and Investment Union, the Portuguese Maria Luís Albuquerque, emphasises that "the scale of investment needed to guarantee the EU's competitiveness and at the same time cope with the green and digital transitions is enormous".
"To succeed, we need a well-functioning, efficient and deeply integrated capital market and banking sector that brings together savers, institutional investors and companies. My vision is simple: I want European savers to get a fair return on their savings and I want European companies and innovators to have access to the finance they need to move our economy forward," said Maria Luís Albuquerque.
The stakeholder consultation is taking place on the European Commission's ‘Have Your Say’ portal.
The announcement comes after the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said last Wednesday that the Portuguese European Commissioner, Maria Luís Albuquerque, will be ‘the main player’ and ‘the right person’ for the creation of the Savings and Investment Union, to increase European competitiveness.
This Savings and Investment Union is one of the initiatives of the ‘Compass for Competitiveness’, a strategy presented last Wednesday that includes a focus on innovation, decarbonisation and security, priorities that will guide the five years of Ursula von der Leyen's second term at the head of the institution.
In a context of geopolitical tensions and political transition in the US, von der Leyen wants to focus on the EU's economic competitiveness, which is why she has already set up an Investment Commission and tasked the Portuguese European Commissioner with mobilising a substantial amount of capital in the EU, particularly private capital.
This is expressed in the ‘Compass for Competitiveness’, which states that the European Commission will present, in the first quarter of this year, "a strategy for a Savings and Investment Union, followed by a set of specific proposals, to enable wealth creation for EU citizens and mobilise capital for projects carried out in Europe".
"The EU must integrate and have deeper and more liquid capital markets as a necessary measure to mobilise private sector resources and direct them towards future-oriented growth sectors," it is argued.
In addition, "it is also necessary to stimulate a greater appetite for risk-taking on the part of private investors, using public funds as an anchor," it reads.
The President of the European Commission proposed, in the ‘Compass for Competitiveness’ strategy, administrative simplification, the elimination of market access barriers and providing funding for the EU to ‘beat’ the United States and China.
ANE/AYLS // AYLS
Lusa
