Former Portuguese finance minister calls for capital markets union

The EU’s financial services chief Maria Luís Albuquerque has called on lawmakers to seize what she described as a “moment of urgency” to finalise tools to create a true European capital markets union.

Albuquerque, who was Portugal’s Finances minister from July 2013 to November 2015 under the centre-right PSD-CDS-PP coalition government headed by the then Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho, says its completion could unlock trillions and boost the European economy.

Europe can compete on the scale of the United States, provided it integrates its common market further and completes pending legislation urgently, European Union Financial Services Commissioner Maria Luís Albuquerque said on Euronews’ flagship interview programme The Europe Conversation this week.

Albuquerque conceded rival jurisdictions like the US have succeeded in attracting European capital and funding that would otherwise stay in the EU if rules were easier for companies and investors.

Still, she insisted that a new push to simplify regulation and integrate the single market from big finance to savers can reverse that.

“There is a lot of money in the world looking for a home right now. If we apply ourselves, we can make Europe the sweet spot,” she told Euronews. “Whether you want to be regional, national or pan-European, you can find a home here.”

Since her reelection last year, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has made regaining competitiveness the centrepiece of her mandate, with a focus on cutting red tape, removing internal barriers in the European market and rolling back excessive regulation.

Source: Euronews