European households have €10 trillion in the bank, which Europe must now put to work for its companies through a Savings and Investments Union, says European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

The Commission President made the statement on 27 August in a speech to the annual meeting of the Mouvement des Entreprises de France (MEDEF), the largest employers’ association in France, which has hundreds of thousands of member companies with a total of more than ten million employees.

EU's von der Leyen:

€10 trillion of household savings is currently sitting in bank deposits, and a significant part of European savings is invested outside our continent.

Europe must now put these savings to work for its companies, and that is the goal of the Savings and… pic.twitter.com/CATwQJWAW2

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In her speech, von der Leyen mentioned what she called six «challenges» for the EU – namely competitiveness, financing the economy, the Single Market, energy, artificial intelligence (AI) and trade – and it was under the heading of financing that she mentioned the EU’s plans to get people to invest their savings in the way the Union considers most appropriate.

At the outset, she pointed to the problems:

In Europe, there is no shortage of technology or savings. But there is still a lack of capacity to scale up European businesses. Far too many projects stall because the initial investment is too risky, because demand is too uncertain or because capital is too expensive. Our companies know how to get started in Europe. But they must also be able to grow here. Far too often, they seek financing elsewhere. They shift their centre of gravity. Or they are bought up.

In the Commission President’s view, people in Europe should be encouraged to buy new types of securities with a significant proportion of their savings:

This is, of course, not something we should finance exclusively with public funds. But Europe has savings. And unfortunately, these savings are lying idle. Today, €10 trillion in household savings is sitting in bank accounts. And a large share of Europe’s savings is invested outside our continent. Europe must now put these savings to work for its companies. This is the objective of the «Savings and Investments Union». We have put forward proposals on securitisation, on bank and insurance investments, and on the integration and supervision of our markets. Taken together, these measures can unlock up to €470 billion in additional investment. We must now reach agreement before the end of the year, preferably with all 27 Member States. But if that is not possible, we will, if necessary, proceed together with those who are ready.

Ursula von der Leyen pointed in the speech to a number of problems that she considers the Union competent to solve, and she points to former European Central Bank President Mario Draghi as the Superman with the solutions.

Mario Draghi paved the way. And in his footsteps, our objective is clear: to make Europe a continent that produces, invests and protects. To put industrial capacity back at the centre of our work. To create the opportunities businesses need to invest. And to make openness a strength based on reciprocity, fairness and the protection of our interests.

The Commission President’s ambitions are not modest. She points to the EU’s own rules as a competitive problem that the EU itself can solve with regulatory packages, and to the negative trade balance with China as something the Union can restore by «making full use of our instruments»,

We must also defend the resources on which our economic security depends: critical raw materials, batteries, semiconductors, cloud services, data and sensitive technology. Our market remains open. But openness requires security, fairness and reciprocity, ladies and gentlemen.

Von der Leyen insists on net-zero emissions by 2050, but promises businesses «the means» to achieve this. She also believes that AI can become an advantage for Europe through EU legislation in the field.

The mandate of the second von der Leyen Commission expires in 2029.