The Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament welcome the new strategy for a Savings and Investments Union, designed to create better financial opportunities for European citizens and companies while driving much-needed massive investments. 

This initiative is crucial, as – according to the Draghi report – Europe needs €800 billion in annual investments, an amount that cannot be met through bank financing alone. 

However, this strategy, recently presented by the European Commission, will only succeed if it puts people at the centre and steers clear of harmful deregulation, warn the S&Ds, who also requested today’s plenary debate on this issue. 

Jonás Fernández, S&D spokesperson on economic and monetary affairs, said:

“Faced with a harmful economic and geopolitical agenda, imposed on the rest of the world by US President Donald Trump, Europe needs to move faster towards the consolidation of the single market, creating strong capital markets to help generate much-needed massive investments. 

“In this context, we welcome the new strategy for a Savings and Investments Union, as it outlines key steps to remove national barriers and to channel savings into more productive investments in the European economy. 

“To achieve this, small investors must be adequately protected. We welcome plans to develop an EU investment account, which could provide access to simpler, better and lower-cost EU investment products that offer greater value for money. We urge the Commission to put forward a legislative proposal as swiftly as possible. Non-legislative measures would not be enough. 

“A second key element of this strategy, which we strongly support, is expanding financing options for businesses, particularly small and middle-sized enterprises, which currently rely heavily on bank financing to fund their growth. 

“In addition to this, we call on the Commission to further strengthen financial supervision at EU level, for example, by granting the European Supervisory Authorities direct oversight of large, systemic and cross-border financial firms. 

“In the strategy, the Commission also announced next steps in the review of the securitisation framework, which was designed to prevent a repetition of the 2008 financial crisis. For the S&Ds, it is essential that this review does not become a deregulatory exercise aimed at weakening prudential rules, or transparency and due diligence requirements.”