Maria Luís Albuquerque was officially appointed European Commissioner for Financial Services and the Savings and Investments Union by the re-elected President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, when the composition of her new College was announced on Tuesday 17 September in Strasbourg (see EUROPE 13484/1).
The former Portuguese finance minister left her mark on the Portuguese political scene as a key figure during the financial crisis that hit the country in the early 2010s. Appointed in 2013 to the government of Pedro Passos Coelho (Social Democratic Party), she played a central role in implementing the austerity measures imposed by the EU/IMF bailout programme (see EUROPE 11235/19, 11209/34).
After leaving the Portuguese government, Ms Albuquerque pursued a career in the private and financial sector. In 2019 and 2020, she was also a member of the expert group of the European Commission’s High Level Forum on capital markets union (CMU) (see EUROPE 12503/13).
In her mission statement sent to Albuquerque on Tuesday, the President now urges her to develop a “European savings and investments Union, including banking and capital markets to leverage the enormous wealth of private savings in support of the EU’s wider objectives”, echoing the proposals made by former Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta in his report on the internal market (see EUROPE 13393/3).
Ms Albuquerque has also been tasked with reviewing the regulatory framework for the financial sector “to ensure that innovative, fast-growing European companies and start-ups can finance their expansion here in Europe”. The mission entrusted includes improving the financial supervisory system at EU level, reviving the use of securitisation and developing financial literacy among citizens.
On Tuesday, Ms von der Leyen described this appointment as “essential” in order to “strengthen and complete the CMU and ensure that private investment is the driving force behind productivity and innovation” in the EU.
See Ms Albuquerque’s mission letter: https://aeur.eu/f/dgo (Original version in French by Bernard Denuit)