On Thursday 19 March, the heads of state or government of the countries of the European Union reiterated the need to establish a Savings and Investment Union (SIU) and a fully integrated capital market in order to channel Europeans’ abundant savings into productive investment. In their conclusions, the leaders urge the European Parliament and the Council of the EU to conclude a series of legislative tasks before the end of the year.
The conclusions mention the reform of the securitisation framework (see EUROPE 13777/24), the package aimed at facilitating access to supplementary pension schemes (see EUROPE 13810/1, 13756/14) and the ‘MISP’ market infrastructure and supervision package (see EUROPE 13825/24). The leaders also called for negotiations on the digital euro (see EUROPE 13797/21) to be concluded by the same deadline.
They also call on the European Commission to propose targeted amendments to the prudential framework “to enhance the capacity of the banking sector to finance the European economy” and to make progress on the integration of the banking market (see EUROPE 13828/13).
“Banks are crucial for our Competitiveness Agenda as one of the main funding sources for our companies. So we will come with the banking report earlier”, meaning next summer, said Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
To see the conclusions: https://aeur.eu/f/l9l
Euro Summit. During their dinner, the leaders focused their discussions on the euro area in the presence of the President of the European Central Bank (ECB), Christine Lagarde, and the President of Eurogroup, Kyriákos Pierrakákis (see EUROPE 13826/19).
In their statement, they call for vigilance regarding the effects of recent developments in the Middle East on their economies, noting in particular that a “considerable uncertainty weighs on confidence and on the outlook for growth and inflation”. They call on the Eurogroup to continue assessing the risks to macro-financial stability.
The leaders also underlined “our collective determination to deliver on the Savings and Investments Union, which is crucial to expand the size and depth of European capital markets and diversify funding sources for long-term and strategic investments within the Union”.
Finally, they welcome “the work by the Commission on the international role of the euro” as well as “the progress made on the digital euro project” and take note of the work begun by the Eurogroup on digital finance (see EUROPE 13824/5).
To see the statement: https://aeur.eu/f/l9p (Original version in French by Bernard Denuit with the editorial staff)