Capital Markets Union and ending short-termism: lessons from the European Commission's public consultation

The waiting game: How securitization became the solution for the growth problem of the Eurozone

“…That’s the goal of the Capital Markets Union. The same causal claim is repeated over and over again in the Memorandum itself without much empirical evidence (see also Pesendorfer, 2015 ). That is, securitization would help ‘sustainable’ economic growth and job growth.…”

“…The CMU fits this mould, for it explicitly frames the economic performance differences between the US and the EU since the crisis as the outcome of underdeveloped debt and capital markets in the EU. As such, the CMU stands in a long tradition of elite attempts to transform the EU into a more integrated federation (see Dorn, 2015 ; Ertürk, 2015 ; Pesendorfer, 2015 ). Hence, it is no coincidence that the idea for the CMU originated from the EC and its staff, which has always been the driver towards a more federalist Europe since it would expand its power, scope and resources and shift the balance within the EU from intergovernmental institutions to federal ones.…”

Ceci n’est pas un Capital Markets Union: Re-establishing EU-led financialization

“…Yet others have looked at Member State preferences and issues of unevenness on the continent (Quaglia et al., 2016). On a more fundamental level, CMU has been criticized for returning to pre-crisis dynamics, pushing for deregulation rather than learning crisis lessons and returning to more traditional banking models to make finance serve the real economy (Lemaire and Plihon, 2016; Pesendorfer, 2015).…”

“…There is also some evidence that EU actors themselves are aware that their official CMU discourse is wrong or misleading – at least in part. One example is the admission by previous Commissioner for Capital Markets Union Jonathan Hill that the narrative surrounding the provision of financing to capital-stricken SMEs was just a gimmick to convince the public of the job potential of CMU plans (Pesendorfer, 2015: 207). Another example is the biannual Survey on the Access of Finance of Enterprises conducted by the European Central Bank (one of the biggest proponents of CMU), which shows that access to finance was never the top concern of SMEs since the first survey was conducted in 2009, and that especially since 2014/2015 (when CMU was launched), the other four pressing issues were considered more important.…”

The Political Economy of European Capital Markets Union

“…Pesendorfer () argues that the consultation was framed in such a way as to marginalize more radical responses and encourage those focused on deepening capital markets, reinforcing securitization and promoting the Commission's better regulation agenda. Later, in response to the Commission's Action Plan, 29 trade unions, economic and civil society associations and think tanks prepared a critical statement on the likely effectiveness of the CMU project ( Finance Watch , ).…”