Capital markets integration, expanding opportunities for workers, and bigger consumer markets will allow companies to grow faster. Europe once led the world in productivity growth but now lags the United States —and the gap has widened significantly in recent years. The Chart of the Week shows that behind this shortfall is the staggering difficulty that European firms face in scaling up. In the United States, the stock market valuation of young firms (under the age of 50) is $42.9 trillion, compared to a...

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Today the Council agreed its position on the proposal to streamline certain rules regarding artificial intelligence (AI). The proposal forms part of the so-called “Omnibus VII” legislative package in the EU’s simplification agenda. The package includes proposals for two regulations aiming to simplify the EU’s digital legislative framework and the implementation of harmonised rules on AI. "Streamlining the AI rules is essential for ensuring the EU’s digital sovereignty. As presidency, we worked on this proposal with urgency, reaching a swift agreement to facilitate the timely...

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Blog|  Piero Cipollone, Member of the Executive Board of the ECB As payments and financial markets go digital, central bank money must evolve too. Through initiatives such as Pontes and Appia, the Eurosystem is working with market participants to ensure that tokenised finance can settle safely in central bank money, supporting innovation, integration and Europe’s financial sovereignty. Technology is transforming how we communicate, travel, work and pay. The way that central banks issue money also needs to change, to meet the...

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Secure transparency, remuneration and the possibility for rightsholders to prevent the use of their protected content in AI training Protect the news media sector to ensure media pluralism and diversity of information Introduce new licensing rules to address potential infringements of copyright law To protect the creative sector in the EU, the use of copyrighted work by artificial intelligence requires transparency and fair remuneration, Parliament says. On Tuesday, MEPs adopted a series of recommendations to protect copyrighted creative work from...

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Blog | AI can lift global growth but lasting productivity benefits depend on how fast we learn to measure, finance, and govern it. Artificial intelligence is the defining driver of global economic conversation—and, increasingly, of economic growth itself. In the United States, AI-related investment now accounts for a large share of GDP growth, fueling new demand for servers, data centers, software, and power infrastructure. Policymakers are scrambling to understand what this means: Is the world witnessing a short-lived investment bubble...

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Global debt markets remained resilient in 2025 amidst geopolitical tensions, trade disputes and risks for growth prospects, with governments and companies borrowing a record USD 27 trillion, according to a new OECD report. Sovereign bond issuance in OECD countries is projected to reach a record USD 18 trillion in 2026, up from USD 12 trillion in 2022. Outstanding debt is estimated to have risen from USD 55 trillion in 2024 to USD 61 trillion in 2025. Debt relative to GDP remained stable,...

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Blog | Artificial intelligence is everywhere, and the workplace is no exception. But will it empower workers, or is it set to replace them? This blog post looks at the impact of AI use and investment on firms’ current and future hiring and firing decisions. Artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to significantly influence firms’ production processes. It could also profoundly reshape employment and the labour market. But how exactly? On the one hand, AI could replace workers, leading to a...

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What is the Industrial Accelerator Act and why is the Commission proposing it? The Industrial Accelerator Act (IAA) is a legislative proposal designed to strengthen Europe's industrial base by boosting manufacturing, growing businesses, and creating jobs in the EU. It delivers on the recommendations of the Draghi report on EU competitiveness, the political guidelines of the Commission, and the mission entrusted to the Executive Vice-President for Prosperity and Industrial Strategy. The IAA mobilises public procurement and public incentives to boost demand for low-carbon and European-made products...

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