Welcome to Better Europe’s weekly update on EU Affairs.
FORGET ABOUT CMU, HERE IS THE SIU, SAYS ENRICO LETTA
A decade after the birth of the Capital Market Union as the ugly twin sister of the Banking Union, it’s time to move on and transform the “incomplete” project into a Savings and Investments Union, according to former Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta in a report discussed by European leaders this week. The report mentions that private savings total a “staggering” 33 trillion euros and that these are mostly held in currency and deposits. Even worse, 300 billion a year is “diverted” into non-EU investments, mostly American, because the EU can’t get its act together and remove fragmentation in markets. For finance and the two other priority sectors (energy and telecoms), Mr Letta provides the incoming Commission with a nice shopping list on what needs to be done on the legislative side, even if his main message is that a lot of legislative work has already been done and that the political focus should now shift to implementation. Together with a report due in June from Mario Draghi, another former Italian Prime Minister, Mr Letta’s work is formally addressed to Member States who undoubtedly will copy many ideas into their Strategic Agenda for the next EU mandate.
MINISTERS AGREE TO STRENGTHEN EUROPEAN PILLAR OF SOCIAL RIGHTS
Ahead of the new mandate, Ministers and Heads of State put forward their objectives for the forthcoming new Commission and Parliament. While there were some bumps on the road, social affairs ambassadors finally managed to confirm and sign the La Hulpe Declaration. To be read together with the discussions on a new European Competitiveness Deal, the declaration aims to strengthen the EU labour market and resilience of businesses, and to ensure that the EU is an attractive investment environment. It focuses on the preservation of workers’ rights, gender equality, equitable opportunities for skilling, reskilling, and upskilling in light of the digital and green transition, as well as a potential enlargement by 2030. The declaration stresses the need of effective implementation of the Social Pillar both in the EU member states and in candidate countries – yet another subtle example of the extraterritorial potential of EU law and policy.
VON DER LEYEN PROTÉGÉ MEP PIEPER RESIGNS AS EU SME ENVOY
On the eve of starting his new job, German conservative MEP Markus Pieper decided to resign from his position as EU SME Envoy. His resignation comes after several weeks of intense criticism led by both the European Parliament, which called to reverse the appointment decision due to suspected political favouritism by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, as well as several Commissioners, including Commissioner for the Internal Market Thierry Breton, who was in charge of the appointment but was absent when President von der Leyen appointed MEP Pieper over his own preference, liberal MEP Martina Dlabajová. In an internal selection process MEP Dlabajová and a third candidate Anna Stellinger had received higher scores than MEP Pieper. While using perfectly legitimate arguments on the fairness and transparency of the selection process, the controversy also appears as a way for the liberals and the socialists to show their muscles ahead of the EU elections, and to start weighing in on the composition of the next European Commission. President von der Leyen ultimately had to announce that the position would be filled only after the EU elections.