EU financial autonomy
EU financial autonomy
Context
Financial independence and autonomy of Europe remain a centerpiece to preserve the European way of life and our values, especially in light of the changing world order.
The concept of EU autonomy has emerged as a key policy objective of the EU to protect the European way of life. It has progressively expanded from the security and defense dimension to many other areas, such as energy, healthcare and, with the UK exiting the EU, to the financial services although the dollar is the international benchmark currency in the world and dollar liquidity is key to financial stability.
This concept of autonomy highlights a key question: can our continent be satisfied with being an importer of financial services developed and produced outside the EU or should it build some form of strategic autonomy in finance. The real challenge is whether the EU financial system is agile and powerful enough to back the most EU promising entrepreneurs and businesses, to invest in the rest of the world, to deliver attractive returns to savers and to remain at the frontier of innovation.
The policy tools available to develop EU financial autonomy, range from the improvement of the attractiveness of EU financial landscape, the integration of banking and capital markets, the capacity to set up EU Own standards, the necessary common efforts to develop EU specific infrastructures or reinforce EU players, and competition and trade policies. The EU private sector also have an important role to play as illustrated by the recent European Payments Initiative. Indeed, the convenience of the products supplied is essential to enable the EU citizens to reinforce EU independence.
However, the increasing fragmentation at the global level and the development of the use of the bargain power between jurisdiction, should be clearly taken into account in the development of such policies.
Contributions to the policy debate
Extracted from the main Eurofi publications (Regulatory Updates, Views Magazines and Conference Summaries)
Eurofi policy note
Public and private
sector views
Europe’s sovereignty is a core objective for the French Presidency of the EU - February 2022
B. Le Maire - Minister of the Economy, Finance and the Recovery Plan, France
Open strategic autonomy: implications for finance - February 2022
Emmanuel Moulin - Ministry of the Economy, Finance and the Recovery Plan, France | John Berrigan - European Commission | Florian Toncar - Federal Ministry of Finance, Germany | Markus Ferber - European Parliament | Stéphane Boujnah - Euronext | Fabrizio Campelli - Deutsche Bank Group
Should financial sovereignty be a key objective for the EU? - September 2020
Harald Waiglein - Federal Ministry of Finance, Austria | Sylvie Goulard - Banque de France | Stéphane Boujnah - Euronext | Jacques Beyssade - Groupe BPCE | Christian Edelmann - Oliver Wyman | Alban Schmutz - OVH
Together for Europe’s recovery - September 2020
O. Scholz - Federal Minister of Finance and Vice Chancellor, Germany