Luxembourg, 5 March 2025
“Check against delivery”
Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.
I would like to thank the EIB for putting together such an interesting and timely event, and for inviting me to share my views on how the Savings and Investments Union can unlock financing for future growth.
I am delighted to provide a few opening remarks before we get into the detailed discussion with this remarkable panel.
We have representatives from the European Parliament, the European Stability Mechanism, and key players providing equity from both the public and private sectors. I am looking forward to a really interesting and meaningful discussion with you all.
If we look to the current state of affairs in our European capital markets, it’s painfully obvious they are operating far below their potential. And this is to the detriment of all Europeans.
European savers have no easy way of getting more out of their hard-earned savings inside the EU.
A significant part of their money sits in low yield deposit accounts or even cash, – amounting to 10 trillion euro at the end at 2023. Mobilising even a very small part of this amount can transform the investment landscape in the EU.
There is a mismatch in Europe between the abundance of idle savings, and companies that need investment, including our European start-ups and scale-ups.
This mismatch has been widely recognised, as has the European Union’s competitiveness challenge.
The momentum for change seems to be there now.
Last year, the Eurogroup in inclusive format recognised the urgent need to advance the capital markets union; a priority reaffirmed by EU leaders soon thereafter.
This focus has been further reinforced by the landmark reports from Enrico Letta and Mario Draghi, all highlighting the critical importance of strong and integrated capital markets. These reports support the need for our Savings and Investments Union.
We know what the problems are and the reasons that prevent us from being more successful, more competitive and from addressing the demands and needs of our citizens.
Now it’s the time to act, time for solutions.
The Savings and Investments Union will focus on supporting household wealth creation by increasing the returns on savings of EU citizens, while widening the financing opportunities for businesses.
In essence, the Savings and Investments Union will create the conditions to channel savings to the most productive investments.
It will allow us to meet our needs to finance innovation, the green and digital transitions, as well as infrastructure investments across the EU.
And, importantly, defence.
As announced yesterday by President von der Leyen, ReArm Europe will rely significantly on the mobilisation of private capital, making the Savings and Investments Union a key enabler to this objective as well.
And the EIB will also play a key role in this plan.
Achieving all these goal implies scaling up the investor base, promoting the participation of retail investors in supporting the real economy.
Obviously, this is not to say that the Commission will decide where citizens’ savings need to go, rather the Commission’s objective is to make investing easier and more appealing.
Our crucial task will be to bring down the existing cross-board barriers and have the buy-in of Member States to reap the benefits of the Savings and Investments Union. Because the Savings and Investments Union cannot be built by EU-level actions only, many of the barriers depend on Member States decisions, such as taxation, pensions or corporate laws, just to mention a few.
We need a combined top-down and bottom-up approach.
Of course, taking steps forward will require political courage. And I am under no illusions about how challenging it will be – both technically and politically.
But the costs of not taking this step forward would present the EU with an even greater challenge – so I am convinced that this is the path we must follow.
The Communication on the Savings and Investments Union will be presented on March 19 outlining the overall strategy.
The EU continues committed to our ambitious goals as we strive for a greener, more digital, and fairer Europe.
However, we have to recognise that these aspirations will remain out of reach with an underperforming economy.
In the EU there is wealth, there is ingenuity and there is innovation, let’s bring them together to promote a more competitive and prosperous Europe.
Thank you and I am looking forward to our discussion.
Source – EU Commission