EU’s six largest economies call for accelerated capital markets integration
France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, and Spain urge Brussels to accelerate capital markets integration, emphasising its urgency to enhance Europe’s growth potential.
France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, and Spain call for expedited integration of capital markets to enhance Europe’s economic sovereignty and growth potential.
EU officials aim for consensus on the Savings and Investment Union by summer 2026, despite ongoing technical disagreements among member states.
Briefing summary
The EU’s six largest economies are urging Brussels to expedite capital market integration, highlighting its necessity for enhancing Europe’s growth potential and economic sovereignty. The finance ministers expressed their commitment to advance the “Savings and Investment Union” project in a letter to EU officials.
Meanwhile, the European Commission has proposed various legislative measures to facilitate market integration, yet technical disagreements among EU member states have caused significant delays. Efforts include revising the securitisation framework established in 2019 to promote safer market practices.
Additionally, the six nations are advocating for the development of pan-European digital payment solutions to bolster strategic autonomy, currently hindered by delays in the European Parliament. They call for a swift legislative process for the digital euro, emphasising its need to coexist with existing private infrastructures.
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EU’s largest economies push for faster capital market integration in joint letter
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The EU’s six largest economies are urging Brussels to accelerate the long-awaited integration of capital markets to “strengthen Europe’s growth potential”, according to a letter sent on Tuesday to the Eurogroup boss and several EU commissioners.
The finance ministers of France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland and Spain say that making tangible progress on the rebranded “Savings and Investment Union” has become an “urgent necessity,” pledging to push “this important project forward”, in a letter addressed to EU economy chief Valdis Dombrovskis and Eurogroup President.
“Deeper and more integrated capital markets would strengthen Europe’s growth potential, enhance its economic sovereignty and provide a stronger foundation for financing common priorities,” the letter said.
“A central purpose of the package is to remove national barriers and to improve cross border distribution of investment funds, so investors have better access to the EU capital markets and companies benefit from deeper pools of capital”, the letter says.
Agreement by the summer
To strengthen and integrate these markets across the EU, the European Commission has proposed a series of legislative measures under the Savings and Investment Union package.
However, EU countries are not fully aligned on the technical aspects of capital markets integration, causing delays to the broader strategic agenda.
Another key legislative proposal is the revisions of the securitisation framework, which are EU rules introduced in 2019 with the objective of ensuring safer market practices, to avoid other financial crisis such as the 2008 global shock.
Digital payments
The six EU countries also support the development of additional pan-European private digital payment solutions, viewed as a key pillar of the EU’s strategic autonomy, since most digital payments are currently processed through US-based infrastructures.
According to ECB.europa.eu/press/pr/date/2025/html/ecb.pr250228%5F1~7f0697af45.en.html” target=”_blank” rel=”noreferrer”>2025 European Central Bank data, Mastercard and Visa account for 61% of card payments and nearly 100% of cross-border ones.
The project is facing significant delays in the European Parliament. In particular, the leading rapporteur on the file, the Spanish centre-right MEP Fernando Navarrete, is pushing to reduce the scope of the digital euro to offline payments only, in order to avoid competing with other private infrastructure, such as Visa and Mastercard.
“We push for swift conclusions of the legislative process of the digital euro and we invite the European Parliament to follow the Council’s approach to establish the digital euro (in both its online and offline modalities) as a comprehensive, interoperable and sovereign European payment solution for European citizens”, the six countries wrote in the letter.