Some very interesting points from European Parliament hearings:
- Small and medium enterprises are the backbone of Europe’s economy.Their innovative capacity and talent are vital assets for Europe’s economic sovereignty. The new Commission will propose a new #fund to help #SMEs to go public. Also a strategy to help SMEs tackle challenges relating to the green transition, digitalisation and changing trade patterns.
- New #tech& #finance, huge potential – for example, by giving consumers better and faster access to finance, thus a new strategy for Europe to get the best out of #FinTech and compete globally. Instant payments are a good example.
- Europe’s banking sector is on a much more solid footing than when we took office in 2014.Banks are better capitalised and more resilient in terms of liquidity.
- Levels of non-performing loans have fallen by more than a half, although they remain too high in some countries.
- the aim is now: The Banking Union must now be completed: As part of that, need to agree on a European Deposit Insurance Scheme: to reassure Europeans that their #deposits have equal protection.
- the fight against #moneylaundering continues; a lot of merit in conferring specific anti-money laundering supervisory tasks and their coordination to a Union body.
- the second objective will be to use fiscal, economic and financial policies to support the #green and #digital transformation.To finance the transition to a climate-neutral economy, Europe needs massive investments – trillions of euros over the next decades& need both public and private funding.
- To stimulate private #investment, we should create #regulatory incentives, and use the possibilities of the EU budget to leverage much more still.
- sustainable finance: must now agree on a unified EU classification system, or taxonomy, to define what is sustainable. Also aim to develop standards for green bonds and ecolabels.In parallel, need to build on the Investment Plan for Europe.
- a Sustainable Europe Investment Plan to unlock €1 trillion of sustainable investment over the next decade. Also work with the European Investment Bank to transform it into #Climate Bank. By 2025, target that half of its total #financing dedicated to climate.
- Trade policy has an important role: The EU is the world’s largest exporter and importer. It must continue to be a global standard-setter through an open and fair trade agenda.
- also importance to address risks such as unfair competition, #cybersecurity, and threats to financial stability. Europe needs a common approach on crypto-assets, such as Libra and proposal for new legislation will come.