What you should know about the EU's plan to tap your savings

"The renewed impetus stems from fears the EU is lagging dangerously behind the world's two biggest economies, the United States and China -- one of the topics set to dominate a summit of the bloc's leaders this week. Some, including European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, have raised the prospect of several EU states moving forward, leaving others behind, to establish a Savings and Investments Union."

"Brussels wants to unify national financial markets to make investments flow more seamlessly across the EU. The commission also wants markets to provide more attractive financial instruments to European citizens, who are more fearful of investing in stock markets than their American counterparts. Currently, €10 trillion ($11.6 trillion) of EU citizens' savings are held as bank deposits, according to the bloc's executive, because people see it as safe."

"A key element of such a union is centralising market supervision, an issue pitting the EU's six biggest economies against smaller countries. France, Germany, Italy and three others say the move is necessary, but Luxembourg and Ireland have expressed reservations."

The European Union is reviving efforts to create a deeper, unified capital market after more than a decade of stalled progress. The renewed push stems from concerns that the EU lags behind the United States and China economically. The initiative, now termed the Savings and Investments Union, combines the Capital Markets Union and Banking Union to unify national financial markets and enable seamless investment flows across member states. A central component involves centralizing market supervision, which has created tension between larger economies like France, Germany, and Italy, and smaller nations such as Luxembourg and Ireland. The EU aims to redirect €10 trillion in citizen savings from bank deposits into more attractive financial instruments and provide better capital access for businesses. EU leaders are scheduled to discuss this proposal in depth at an upcoming summit.

Read at The Local France