The European Commission today presented a new strategy to stimulate the openness, strength and resilience of the EU’s economic and financial system for the years to come. This strategy aims to better enable Europe to play a leading role in global economic governance, while protecting the EU from unfair and abusive practices. This goes hand in hand with the EU’s commitment to a more resilient and open global economy, well-functioning international financial markets and the rules-based multilateral system. This strategy is in line with President von der Leyen‘s ambition for a geopolitical Commission and follows the Commission’s May 2020 Communication “Europe’s moment: Repair and Prepare for the Next Generation”.
This proposed approach is based on three mutually reinforcing pillars:
- Promoting a stronger international role of the euro by reaching out to third-country partners to promote its use, supporting the development of euro‑denominated instruments and benchmarks and fostering its status as an international reference currency in the energy and commodities sectors, including for nascent energy carriers such as hydrogen. The issuance of high-quality euro-denominated bonds under NextGenerationEU will add significant depth and liquidity to the EU’s capital markets over the coming years and will make them, and the euro, more attractive for investors. Promoting sustainable finance is also an opportunity to develop EU financial markets into a global ‘green finance’ hub, bolstering the euro as the default currency for sustainable financial products. In this context, the Commission will work to promote the use of green bonds as tools for the financing of energy investments necessary to reach the 2030 energy and climate targets. The Commission will issue 30% of the total bonds under NextGenerationEU in the form of green bonds. The Commission will also look for possibilities to expand the role of the EU Emission Trading System (ETS) to maximise its environmental outcome and to support ETS trading activity in the EU. In addition to all this, the Commission will also continue supporting the work of the European Central Bank (ECB) on a possible introduction of a digital euro, as a complement to cash.
- Further developing EU financial market infrastructures and improving their resilience, including towards the extraterritorial application of sanctions by third countries. The Commission, in cooperation with the ECB and the European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs), will engage with financial-market infrastructure companies to carry out a thorough analysis of their vulnerabilities as regards the unlawful extraterritorial application of unilateral measures by third countries and take action to address such vulnerabilities. The Commission will also establish a working group to assess possible technical issues related to the transfer of financial contracts denominated in euro or other EU currencies cleared outside the EU to central counterparties located in the EU. In addition to this, the Commission will explore ways to ensure the uninterrupted flow of essential financial services, including payments, with EU entities or persons targeted by the extra-territorial application of third-country unilateral sanctions.
- Further promoting the uniform implementation and enforcement of the EU’s own sanctions. This year, the Commission will develop a database – the Sanctions Information Exchange Repository – to ensure effective reporting and exchange of information between Member States and the Commission on the implementation and enforcement of sanctions. The Commission will work with Member States to establish a single contact point for enforcement and implementation issues with cross-border dimensions. The Commission will also ensure that EU funds provided to third countries and to international organisations are not used in violation of EU sanctions. Given the importance of monitoring the harmonised enforcement of EU sanctions, the Commission will set up a dedicated system allowing for the anonymous reporting of sanctions evasion, including whistleblowing.
