Construire l'union des marchés des capitaux

- welcomes the initiative set out in the Green Paper Building a Capital Markets Union, the key element of which is creating a single capital market; underlines the need to take further structural and anticyclical initiatives in the field of financial markets so as to impact all EU Member States and also benefit regions with less developed financial markets;

- expresses particular interest in and strongly supports all actions aimed at strengthening the potential of SMEs, recognising their local role in promoting entrepreneurship, creating innovation, and shaping society based on the value of work, and at financial feasibility support for important and long-term investment projects with key regional significance which create conditions for effective local and regional development;

- considers that local and regional authorities have a key role to play in developing the general public's financial education. The Committee also highlights the role played by associations and educational establishments in disseminating knowledge of economics and finance among young Europeans;

- is convinced that new market initiatives can be introduced by further increasing public transparency of available financial information and eliminating reasons why financial information might not be comparable between Members States;

- points out that regulatory proposals connected to the Capital Markets Union should not lead to excessive regulatory burdens on SMEs or limiting the benefits this sector could reap as a result of creating a single capital market;

- encourages the European Commission to promote good practices in alternative forms of financing which are well developed in some EU Member States.