A Capital Markets Union for Europe: preliminary reflections

Summary

The Capital Markets Union should be considered as a wide range of initiatives in different fields, aimed at ending the existing fragmentation of European capital markets. Rather than a purely new project it is the continuation or deepening of the capital market integration. Indeed, the ultimate goal is truly completing Europe’s founding principle of freedom in capital movements which has room for increase. The political momentum of this project can be associated with the authorities’ objective of promoting alternative sources of finance for businesses in Europe as a way to underpin economic growth. The analogy with banking union should not be overstretched, since the latter is related to the Eurozone and includes important elements of sovereignty sharing, whereas the capital markets union is rather a deepening of the EU-wide single market. The new Commission should start working in this field before the end of the year to produce a detailed action plan by the summer of 2015, in order to have the foundations in place by 2019.

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