On the 27th of February 2017, the European Commission published a report on „national barriers to free movement of capital”, a report that was long-anticipated and that was already announced in the initial CMU Action Plan from September 2015. The research was conducted by an Expert Group of Member States’ representatives.
As Accountancy Europe notes in its article on this matter, „The report is expected to provide additional political momentum for addressing remaining obstacles to the further integration of capital markets in Europe”, its primary objective being „to map and propose solutions to national barriers that are either not justified by public interest considerations, or are otherwise disproportionate and that may hinder the free movement of capital across borders within the Single Market”.
Although the report does not have legislative power and does not engage Member States to taking particular measures, it does propose a set of recommendations that Member States are asked to take forward, and announces next steps.
Some of the barriers highlighted by the report are: „tax related barriers”, „poor financial literacy, differing and disproportionate national rules concerning new forms of financing (such as crowd funding), as well as barriers hindering the development of pan-European pension funds”.
You can find more on capital markets and the news of the European accounting profession on the Accountancy Europe website.
