04 April 2019

Speech by Vice-President Dombrovskis at the Eurofi High-level Seminar 2019 - Bucharest, Romania

I need to spend a moment on present risks, on Brexit. Recent developments have increased the chance of a no deal. Next Wednesday, European leaders will meet again to assess the situation. Since early on, we have called on the financial sector to prepare for all scenarios, and I call on you to complete preparations urgently in the coming days and weeks.

On our side, the Commission has acted to address financial stability risks, with temporary equivalence decisions for UK central counterparties and central security depositaries. Member States are also taking measures in areas of national competence, and we have provided them with clear guiding principles for action. 

But it is also clear that we cannot mitigate all the economic impacts of Brexit.

This makes it all the more important to focus on shaping the future of the EU's financial sector. In Europe, capital markets are clearly less developed than they are in similar economies, like the US.

I am happy that on the Capital Markets Union we have managed to reach agreement on 11 out of 13 proposals put forward during this mandate. That is 11 concrete steps towards a single market for capital that can deliver real benefits for Europe's citizens, companies, and for our economy. I count on the next European Commission to continue to champion this project.  

Now it is up to you – market players - to make best use of these new opportunities. I count on Europe's many capital market companies to develop attractive products, based on our new frameworks for securitisation, covered bonds, or personal pensions.

In the future, I see three challenges for our work on Europe's capital markets union:

- first, the EU needs to strengthen its capacities in terms of funding sources for companies, market infrastructure, and financial market supervision.

- Second, we need to keep boosting local and regional capital markets in all parts of the EU. Here in Romania, my services are helping to strengthen the supervision of capital markets. Actually today I had a meeting with Bucharest Stock Exchange to discuss how exactly European Commission can support the local capital markets in Romania. As another example, they are helping Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania to establish a pan-Baltic capital market.

- And third, a well-developed Capital Markets Union needs to be closely integrated with global capital markets, while protecting financial stability in the EU.

Full speech

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