The European Commission has published a communication on a Competitiveness Compass for the EU, which sets out an action plan in response to the Draghi report published in September 2024. The communication sets out the framework for the Commission's work on competitiveness for the next five years and lists its initial priorities. One of the Commission's key aims is to reduce the regulatory burden, which for the financial services sector will include publishing, in February, the first of a series of Simplification Omnibus packages relating to sustainable finance reporting, sustainability due diligence and the sustainable finance taxonomy. Additionally in Q1 2025 the Commission will set a strategy on a Savings and Investments Union, followed by a set of specific proposals, which will aim to promote low-cost saving and investment products at EU level for retail investors. Longer term work includes removing barriers to consolidation of financial markets infrastructure and taxation barriers to cross-border investment, promoting the EU's securitization market, and pursuing the reform and harmonization of insolvency frameworks in the EU. A tentative agenda for forthcoming College of Commissioners' meetings indicates that the Commission will publish a communication on the Savings and Investments Union on March 19, 2025.
[View source.]
