EU Economy and Finance

📆 Register now: The Brussels Economic Forum is less than 1️⃣ month away! Check out the programme and the line-up of high-level speakers that will discuss on 16 May how the upcoming elections will shape future economic policies. Grab your chance to attend #EUBEF24 in person!

#SustainableFinanceEU policies and #InvestEU instruments support sustainable investments and the green transition in the EU. Are you a financial intermediary, SME, or a business support organisation? Learn about EU Sustainable Finance, Invest EU, Green Gateway and the Enterpise Europe Network at our event in Vilnius on 29 May! #SustainableFinanceEU #InvestEU #InvestGreenEU #GreenGateway, #EIBAdvisory #EENCanHelp #EUSustainableFinance Register here to join physically or watch online👇 https://lnkd.in/eEKmji9h

Drug precursors are chemicals ⚗ that have important legal uses but can also be used to make illegal drugs 💊 – are often misused for drug production. How can we ensure lean and effective controls that prevent the diversion of drug precursors? #HaveYourSay in the public consultation until 10/07/2024 👉 europa.eu/!GjXDhN

Great news from European Parliament! The final elements of the ambitious package on AML/CFT are now agreed by co-legislators. The new AML rules will change the EU’s financial crime prevention landscape for good. But what will change in practice? 👇🏾👇🏾👇🏾 https://europa.eu/!FfNBCP #EUstopsdirtymoney #AML

📆 Have you registered for the Brussels Economic Forum on 16 May? Join us for a day of debates and networking with high-level speakers and participants from across the 🌐 world. Featured sessions include: • A panel debate on The green transition in election times: fair policies for people and the climate • An Oxford-style debate on the impact of 🤖 Artificial Intelligence on the European economy and society • A panel debate on Economic security in election times: Can Europe maintain its competitiveness while leading on the green transition? Check out the full programme and the line-up of speakers for the details! Don't miss out, register now for #EUBEF24 👉 https://europa.eu/!6BxbrK

🎙 EU Finance Podcast alert! For this latest episode, we talk to Elodie Feller of the Platform on Sustainable Finance and European Commission expert Sophie Rathmes to learn more about financing the transition to a sustainable economy.  🎧 Listen now! https://lnkd.in/eJb5ZWd5 #TransitionFinance 

The European Commission has today published six in-depth reviews (IDRs) for France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy and Portugal. The 2024 Alert Mechanism Report (AMR) adopted in November 2023 as part of the Autumn European Semester package selected 12 Member States for which an IDR should be prepared. The IDRs for Cyprus, the Netherlands, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, and Sweden were already published on 25 March. This year, the IDRs have been presented in advance of the European Semester Spring Package to allow for more in-depth multilateral discussions with Member States ahead of the Commission’s proposals for country-specific recommendations. The Commission’s final assessment of the existence of macroeconomic imbalances for these 12 Member States will be presented as part of the European Semester Spring Package in June along with country-specific recommendations. 📚 All 12 IDRs are available here: https://europa.eu/!f3gcb9 #EuropeanSemester

Helena Viñes Fiestas, the Chair of the EU Platform on Sustainable Finance kicking off the Technical workshop on financing the transition to a climate-neutral economy, co-hosted with the European Commission: The figures on the taxonomy uptake have been much more encouraging than many expected, particularly on the alignment of the capital expenditures. Capex is investors’ most valued metric. A metric that really tells me the direction of travel of a company, and whether it puts its money where its mouth is. Over 600 European companies with a combined market value of €6.5tn have invested €166bn -aligned with taxonomy- in sectors which are vital to mitigate climate change like transport, manufacturing, and power generation. Moreover, some companies which cannot align with the Taxonomy today are using it to establish medium and long-term objectives. ... While the overall message of the Compendium is that the Taxonomy and the sustainable finance work are working on the ground at their early stage, it also brought to our attention the challenges that companies, financial institutions and other stakeholders are facing. We took good note and re-adjusted our priorities accordingly. We are committed to addressing each one of them. Our effort is focusing on the usability of the Do not significant harm criteria and enabling better access to finance by SMEs. 1.    DNSH: It is not the same to ensure that DNSH related to biodiversity is respected when constructing a building than to assess whether it is going to be respected when providing a mortgage. There are differences between the application of many DNSH criteria to the stock as opposed to new investments, revenues and capex depending on the activity, and differences if you are the company conducting the activity as opposed to a financial market participants or credit institution assessing whether it has been respected. We are working closely with the Commission to simplify compliance and make it fit for purpose. 2.    SMEs: Even though individual SMEs may have minimal carbon and environmental footprints, collectively they play a significant role in achieving the EU's objectives. Achieving Net Zero is impossible without the active involvement of SMEs. The Platform is working hand-in-hand with the Commission to develop simplified approaches tailored for SMEs. Our work-in-progress approaches cater to both listed and unlisted SMEs. These approaches should properly support listed companies in their reporting and implementation of the taxonomy as well as enable non-listed SMEs to get better access to capital to support their transition efforts through simple, practical and easy to use tools. No complexity, no admin burdens, no obligation to do anything. The goal is that SMEs will consider these new tools as an opportunity to benefit from and engage in developing them and feel encouraged to use them on the ground. 👏 👍 🙏 EU Economy and Finance EU Environment and Climate EU Business

Alexandra Jour-Schröder, Deputy Director General of DG FISMA has just opened the Technical workshop on financing the transition to a climate-neutral economy, hosted by the European Commission and the EU Platform on Sustainable Finance: The Commission very much welcomed the report of the Platform - the Compendium of market practice, which showcases that the EU taxonomy is working – and so is the wider EU sustainable finance framework, which is being picked up by different market actors as an effective toolkit to navigate the transition to net zero. The first year of Taxonomy alignment reporting for non-financial companies already displays encouraging figures. Data already shows that companies’ expenditures align to a significant degree with the EU Taxonomy, with initial figures close to 2️⃣ 0️⃣ % of Taxonomy aligned capital expenditures on average. This shows that the EU Taxonomy is being used by companies as a tool for business strategy, transition planning and reporting. In short, it is being used as a yardstick for showcasing corporate sustainability efforts, as it was designed to be.     ... Transition finance is one of the top priorities on our radar. This is for the simple reason that more private capital must be mobilised to achieve the objective of the sustainable transformation. This means that we need to invest not just into what is already green but into activities and projects that make an impact on the way to get there. With the Recommendation on transition finance presented in summer last year, we wanted to help and guide companies at different starting points, on how they can use the EU's existing sustainable finance tools. The ultimate objective is to facilitate transition finance, not only for companies that have strong sustainability records already, but also for those that are at different starting points. Therefore, our framework is also designed to support transition finance. ... Our focus is now on addressing remaining usability challenges of the sustainable finance framework to facilitate its uptake by markets. With the advice of the Platform, we will continue supporting companies and the financial market participants by providing more guidance, including on the interpretation and application of taxonomy criteria and disclosures, along with user-friendly online tools to help operators navigate the sustainable finance framework. We are also working on solutions enabling SMEs to get better access to capital for their transitioning needs, while avoiding regulatory or administrative burdens. EU Economy and Finance EU Environment and Climate EU Business Helena Viñes Fiestas

Happy to share that after 3 years of extensive work, the 2024 edition of the Ageing Report prepared with my Commission colleagues (and the EPC-AWG) is finally out! This report presents the projections showing the economic and budgetary impact of an ageing population over the long term. This edition also includes a conceptual box I wrote on the interaction between climate change and population ageing. The report can be consulted at: https://lnkd.in/evxqCKQU