This year marks 30 years of the European single market. In many ways, it has been a success and has driven significant economic growth across the region. However, it is not yet a full economic union. The banking and capital markets union is still incomplete — and this is holding the EU back.
As a result, the free movement of goods and workers in the bloc is not being matched by the free movement of capital. Data shows that private capital flows across borders within the EU have not increased since the global financial crisis, with cross-border financial claims accounting for nearly 100 per cent of EU gross domestic product in 2022, the same as in 2007.
What’s more, this private investment, driven by private savings, isn’t reaching the areas that really need it. Capital flows are moving within the north and the core of the EU, as investors perceive risk in eastern and southern Europe to be too high, despite better potential returns.