Introduction

Following a process that took nearly six months and started with the June 2024 European Parliament elections, the new European Commission (Commission) started its five-year term on 1 December 2024. The EU institutions have spent the previous month selecting, vetting, hearing, and voting on the new College of Commissioners, which consists of 27 Commissioners from each Member State and are headed by the President, Ursula von der Leyen.

European Parliament confirmation vote

On 27 November 2024, the European Parliament plenary, with 370 votes in favour and 282 against, confirmed the new European Commission College of Commissioners. The confirmation vote was relatively secure following a political agreement between the largest political groupings in the European Parliament, who decided not to object to any of the Commission candidates (please note that the European Parliament needs to confirm the College as a whole, but can announce its intention to reject the College if the President does not replace one or more candidates that the European Parliament does not agree with ahead of the vote). Nevertheless, the fact that the College was confirmed with only 54% of the votes, which is the lowest amount of support over the last three decades, indicates the increased division in the European Parliament, including within the groupings.

European Commission: main priorities

With the final step in the confirmation procedure taken, the new Commission will commence its work. Von der Leyen indicated the general direction of the new Commission in her political guidelines. Her priorities are centered around strategic autonomy, competitiveness, and a clean industrial deal that aims for a sustainable economy that goes hand in hand with productivity and investment. In developing the Commission’s policy goals for the next five years, Von der Leyen took inspiration from the Mario Draghi report on the future of European competitiveness and the Enrico Letta report on the completion of the EU single market. 

New Commissioner responsible for financial services policy

Maria Luís Albuquerque is the new European Commissioner for Financial Services and the Savings and Investment Union during this five-year term. A Portuguese citizen, she was Minister of Finance and Planning between 2013 and 2015. In addition, Albuquerque was the Secretary of State for Treasury from 2011 until 2013. Albuquerque was a member of the Commission’s High-level Forum on Capital Markets Union in which she was the Chair of its Subgroup on Retail Investor Participation.

Financial services priorities for 2024-2029

The mission letter to Albuquerque, which was published in September 2024, contains the priorities for her term. Many of the aims and actions in the mission letter are based on the main Commission priorities. Among other things, Albuquerque has been tasked to:

  • Develop a European Savings and Investments Union to channel more savings towards investments.
  • Address the fragmentation of capital markets by supporting the design of simple and low-cost savings and investment products at EU level.
  • Scale up sustainable finance and ensure that the EU remains a global leader on this topic.
  • Review the regulatory framework to ensure that European companies and start-ups can access funding for expansion and scale-up.
  • Look at non-bank financial institutions in relation to macro-prudential aspects.
  • Explore measures to increase the availability of venture and other risk capital and promote the scaling up of investment funder.
  • Remove barriers to the consolidation of stock exchanges and post-trading infrastructure.
  • Improve the supervisory system at EU level.
  • Assess artificial intelligence deployment in the financial sector, which could improve digital finance and payments.
  • Ensure the implementation and enforcement of the anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing package.

During her hearing in front of the European Parliament, Albuquerque confirmed the goals included in her mission letter and stated that her key overarching priority will be to preserve financial stability. In addition, she told the Members of the European Parliament that she would aim for more coherent supervision of financial institutions and would lay a focus on anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing efforts in her ongoing policy work.