The EU, with eyes on the population's savings: it is not yet clear whether it wants to confiscate them or attract them

Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, and Francois Villeroy de Galhau, Governor of the National Bank of France, recently declared in Davos and Paris that a general mobilization of private savings is needed to support the projects proposed in the Draghi report and for projects on the development of artificial intelligence, without providing details on how this will be achieved. Among the private savings targeted are also bank deposits, even if experts in economics, finance and banking do not dare to declare this at the moment, but which is seen as a necessity according to a report by the Directorate General of the Treasury in France, cited by the daily Le Figaro. It is not yet known whether the EU will impose a forced mobilization (a kind of confiscation) of the bank deposits in question - as reported by the French press and taken up by the newspaper BURSA - or whether the will of European citizens regarding the destination of their own savings will take precedence over decision-makers in Brussels.

If in Davos there was talk of 300 billion euros annually for the needs of the Draghi report, this week - in Paris - Ursula von der Leyen declared that private savings are needed to raise the 200 billion euros needed for the European Union to remain globally competitive in the development, implementation and use of AI technology. The head of the European Commission also revealed the mechanism through which this will be achieved: an investment fund called Invest AI.

At this moment, no decision has been made yet, there is not even a legislative project at European level regarding the mobilization of private savings, but we are witnessing discussions, as stated, for the BURSA Newspaper, by MEP Siegfried Mureşan, co-rapporteur of the European Parliament for the multiannual financial framework 2028-2034. He acknowledged, however, that these economies must be attracted in some way - without explicitly specifying what this is - because the European Union and the member states do not have all the necessary amounts included in the Draghi report to increase the competitiveness of European industry and to develop AI.

• Bridging the investment gap requires private savings

During a press conference he held last week in Bucharest, Siegfried Mureşan told us: "The Draghi report says that we need 800 billion euros annually at the European Union level to reduce the competitiveness gap. We need to invest in energy, in the digital field, in many types of projects. (...) The investment requirement of 800 billion euros annually cannot be covered at the European level, we do not have this money, but Draghi does not say that it must be covered from the EU budget either. We will have to reduce the investment gap from public sources, but also from private sources. I do not think that we can solve all the problems by spending more public money, which also comes from citizens' money. I think we need to ensure that the money from the EU budget leads to increased competitiveness, an increase that must also be prioritized from allocations from national, county and local budgets. By doing this, we can reduce part of the investment gap. For the rest of the gap, the solution is to mobilize private savings, especially from the old EU member states, which instead of financing European industry often go to US capital funds. We need to keep people's savings in Europe, to invest this money in Europe, and for this we need to complete the establishment of the single capital market and strengthen the Banking Union, because at the moment there is no efficient way to use people's savings here in Europe".

The European Parliament's co-rapporteur for the 2028-2034 multiannual financial framework also showed that the Draghi report also proposes many measures that would improve competitiveness and increase the attractiveness of EU member states as investment destinations, some of which can be implemented at no cost, generating savings for European companies, and primarily refers to simplification and reducing bureaucracy.

"The EPP has assumed the reduction of bureaucracy as its main objective, but we see at the moment at the level of the European Socialists group some resistance, that is, they do not want to give up a series of reports that exist for SMEs that access European funds", stated Siegfried Mureşan.

• Total liberalization of banking services, a solution to attract private savings

Sources in the banking sector in our country told us that the basic idea of mobilizing private savings of European citizens, conveyed by Ursula von der Leyen and the governor of the National Bank of France, Francois Villeroy de Galhau, is to create a huge financial pool, at European level, that is, to have 450 million potential investors, from all EU member states and to make the use of banking services more flexible in the cross-border area.

The cited sources stated: "Banking services in EU member states are not as liberalized and transparent as is believed. The movement of people and goods in this area is liberalized, but banking services are believed to be, but in reality they are not, because each state retains certain components of its own banking system. As long as the banking services market at European level is fragmented, banks will attract savings only from the countries in which they operate, based on the rules of those states. This is the great handicap that the European Union has at a financial level compared to the USA. When banking services are no longer restricted, European citizens will be able to take their savings to any European country they want, to any European bank or to an investment fund of any European bank".

• Attracting money from bank deposits, difficult to implement

Economic and financial expert Dr. Mircea Coşea, university professor, claims that the statements of the two officials were not well received by civil society because they refer to the modification of the capital market in order to collect more money for new joint loans.

Mircea Coşea stated: "The idea of a joint loan is supported by Spain and Italy, but totally rejected by Germany and France. From the information I have from the specialized foreign press, it was assessed that Ursula von der Leyen's proposal is meant to put into circulation an idea that would counteract the effects that the Trump administration will have on the European Union on multiple levels. For example, the USA did not sign the final declaration of the AI Summit in Paris, claiming that it cannot afford to finance the development of the new technology for all the countries of the world, which involves the allocation of very large sums, given that the Trump administration wants to primarily develop local production and support, that is, to develop American industry. Ursula von der Leyen made those statements also to reassure to a certain extent the European industry that is scared by the massive recession of Germany, which was the engine of the European Union economy, by the insufficient growth of Spain - Spain has grown a lot, but it does not cover the loss that the community bloc has due to the German recession - and by the need for the EU to recover the economic and technological lag it has compared to the US and the Asia-Pacific region".

Regarding Ursula von der Leyen's proposal on mobilizing private savings, Mr. Coşea said that it is more declarative at this point and added: "It is difficult to implement. There should be, according to Mario Draghi, very important incentives to determine private capital to participate in this collection of funds that the EU needs. This collection of funds should be stimulated by certain advantages, which should give them investments that are considered essential and profitable. These investments are those in the arms industry and the AI industry, which are currently in difficulty, because they are subject to very strong competition from the US".

Mircea Coşea believes that the debate currently taking place at the Brussels level cannot be considered as an immediate profitability measure or even feasible, because "it still requires a lot of negotiations, requires a set of incentive measures to attract private capital and, most importantly, requires that this capital need that the EU has at a maximum level of 800 billion euros annually be ultimately accepted as a "common burden" for all member states".

In his opinion, the European Union has not yet found a feasible and efficient way to counteract the effects that the American administration has on European industry as a whole and the pressure that Asia, especially China, is putting in the field of new technologies in the IT field through the gap it has in its favor compared to its competitors in the EU.

• Mobilization of private savings is already used by the Ministry of Finance

Banking expert Adrian Vasilescu told us that the mobilization of private savings has been going on in our country for several years and that it does not have a negative impact on the banking system.

Adrian Vasilescu specified: "Regarding private savings, let's first look at what the Ministry of Finance is doing here, which has spent several years mobilizing money held by citizens. Basically, a good part of covering the necessary state expenses is covered by citizens' savings and is primarily based on the 11 million people who have deposits in banks. Many are withdrawing their deposits from banks and buying government bonds. This does not necessarily have a negative impact on banks, as there can also be a positive impact because the banking sector is entering into competition and even participating in the purchase of government bonds, being the most important buyer. As for the mobilization of these savings at the European level, no one can know at this moment what the impact on the banking sector will be and what the dynamics of that process of mobilizing the respective deposits will be, but we must bear in mind, let us not avoid the fact, that at this moment economic growth throughout the EU is slowing down. I would like to point out that this mobilization of private savings is not forced, but rather a competition".

Mr. Vasilescu also showed that the mobilization of the savings of European citizens can also be done through the accumulation of capital that European companies make, by welcoming citizens as participants in their economic activity, following the issuance of bonds. The banking expert mentioned that investments depend primarily on sustainable economic growth and showed that at this moment throughout the European Union economic growth is low and there is practically talk of a slowdown in economic activity.

"There is only one solution: boosting economic activity, moving economies from the stage of slowdown to the stage of advance by dynamizing them, plus increasing competitiveness", concluded Adrian Vasilescu.