On Wednesday 13 September, Paris and Berlin co-signed a roadmap in which they set out the priorities that should be established with a view to completing the Capital Markets Union (‘CMU’) (see EUROPE 13220/31).
“The adoption of the ‘CMU’ agenda in 2020 marked an important step in this direction. However, the EU’s capital markets still have considerable room for improvement”, note the two countries.
According to the joint roadmap, particular emphasis should be placed on giving SMEs and innovative businesses access to equity and debt finance, through legislation on stock market listing (see EUROPE 13239/14), as well as on strengthening securitisation to finance the real economy, as part of the ongoing review of ‘Solvency II’ (see EUROPE 13225/18). Targeted amendments to prudential rules on securitisation are expected to be tabled by France and Germany.
The document also stresses the need for “attractive and dynamic” marketplaces and a “competitive clearing infrastructure”, and states that the two countries hope to reach an agreement on this issue (see EUROPE 13246/14) “before the end of the legislative cycle”.
The roadmap also returns to the retail investment strategy (see EUROPE 13239/13) - which both countries support - and the issue of sustainable finance. On this last point, Paris and Berlin consider it “necessary to complete the EU taxonomy with economically important activities linked to the transition that have been ignored until now”.
France and Germany also state that “the current European regulatory framework does not fully prevent the risk of greenwashing in the marketing of financial products” and are calling for greater clarity.
Finally, the two countries suggest complementing the current CMU agenda by exploring an approach in which best practice could be shared.
To see the joint statement (in French): https://aeur.eu/f/8je (Original version in French by Thomas Mangin)