Matt Carthy
Question:78. Deputy Matt Carthy asked the Minister for Finance for an update on negotiations at a European level regarding the Capital Markets Union; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22781/24]
View answerTuesday, 21 May 2024
Questions (78)
Written answers
The Capital Markets Union (CMU) is an ongoing and long term project which aims to deepen and further integrate Europe’s capital markets, support growth and enhance the resilience of the financial system. For Ireland, CMU has the potential to widen the sources of available funding for our companies as well as provide opportunities for our export-oriented financial services sector to contribute to a more dynamic and resilient EU economy. Accordingly, Ireland has also supported the CMU project, putting forward a vision for a European capital markets that can exploit the benefits of existing market places and infrastructures within Member States.
The CMU Action Plan was re-launched in 2020. It proposes 16 legislative and non-legislative actions to deliver on three key objectives:
Support a green, digital, inclusive and resilient economic recovery by making financing more accessible to European companies
Make the EU an even safer place for individuals to save and invest long-term
Integrate national capital markets into a genuine single market
The measures set out in the Action Plan have largely been delivered at EU level and, for legislative measures where EU negotiations have concluded, will require transposition into national law as well as various implementation actions by the EU institutions.
One of the key objectives of the CMU Action Plan 2020 was to make the EU an even safer place for citizens to invest in the long term. The Retail Investment Strategy, which has been under negotiation since 2023, aims to achieve that goal and encourage greater participation in EU capital markets, which has traditionally been lower than in other jurisdictions, such as the United States – even though Europeans have very high savings rates. Boosting the CMU is also an essential means to channel private funding into the European economy and to fund the green and digital transitions. The Retail Investment Strategy makes a range of targeted changes to the relevant sectoral legislation to, inter alia, improve disclosures, protect retail investors from misleading marketing communications, address bias in the advice process, and ensure investment products deliver value for money.
It is widely recognised that, notwithstanding the significant progress made during the current EU legislative term in advancing the CMU, more remains to be done. The Eurogroup (in inclusive format) embarked on a thematic assessment on the future of CMU and in March 2024 issued a statement which sets out priority areas of action and concrete measures for taking forward the CMU. This statement may be accessed here:
www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2024/03/11/statement-of-the-eurogroup-in-inclusive-format-on-the-future-of-capital-markets-union/
The Eurogroup has had extensive discussions on the possible direction of the CMU beyond the current legislative cycle. This resulted in the Eurogroup CMU statement being agreed and presented to Leaders at the Euro Summit on 22 March. The Eurogroup President issued a statement which included a high level work programme on the implementation of the recommendations proposed in the March 2024 statement. This high level implementation roadmap may be accessed here:
www.consilium.europa.eu/media/2pwbdeil/egplus_cmu_wp_final.pdf
It is the collective responsibility of the EU institutions, the Members States, including its regulatory authorities, and capital markets participants, to ensure that further progress is made on the CMU. Ireland will continue to play a constructive and active role in this important endeavour.