The European Council met on Thursday to discuss financial integration in the EU. The aim is to more easily achieve the enormous amount of money that the European economy will have to invest if it does not want to fall behind the United States and China.

The smaller countries of the Union are reluctant. The three Baltic republics, Luxembourg, Ireland, the Czech Republic, and a handful of other countries, especially the smallest of the club, have pushed to lower the ambition in the conclusions of the European Council. But other important elements to move towards financial integration remain, such as the harmonization of bankruptcy rules, “designing and implementing a cross-border investment/savings product for retail investors” or “relaunching the European bond market, even through regulatory changes. “We have had a profound debate with substantial decisions, explained Charles Michel, president of the European Council, at the end of the meeting. 'We have sent signals and taken extremely important steps forward,' said Ursula von der Leyen, European Commission president. The Capital Markets Union has been stuck in the corridors of Brussels for 10 years. European families have saved about 33 trillion euros, but the EU does not take full advantage of the investment potential of that asset. The project, for which Letta proposes changing its name to the Savings and Investment Union, what Europe should achieve is to channel investment into the private sector. "We want it, but we also want it to respect the concerns of the Member States," said the new Irish Prime Minister, Simon Harris. The small Central European country fears that if powers are concentrated in Paris, where that supervisor (ESMA) is now, the bulk of the sector will move there, said the Estonian president, Kaja Kallas. Several sources have pointed out that a dozen countries have viewed with suspicion the centralization of stock market supervision, which has France as its main supporter. The proposals were raised in the conclusions of the European Council for this Thursday for further development.