Contribution to Bancaria by Piero Cipollone, Member of the Executive Board of the ECB, based on remarks at the Crypto Asset Lab Conference on 17 January 2025 Being a key player in digital payments and digital finance should be a priority for Europe. As Mario Draghi pointed out in his recent report, the productivity gap between the United States and the European Union is mostly explained by technology and finance. If we take the information and communications technology (ICT) and financial sectors...

Read more

The European Commission has adopted a new package of proposals to simplify EU rules, boost competitiveness, and unlock additional investment capacity. This is a major step forward in creating a more favourable business environment to help EU companies grow, innovate, and create quality jobs. By bringing our competitiveness and climate goals together, we are creating the conditions for EU businesses to thrive, attract investment, achieve our shared goals – such as the European Green Deal objectives – and unlock our...

Read more

Today, the Commission presents the Clean Industrial Deal, a bold business plan to support the competitiveness and resilience of our industry. The Deal will accelerate decarbonisation, while securing the future of manufacturing in Europe. Faced with high energy costs and fierce and often unfair global competition, our industries need urgent support. This Deal positions decarbonisation as a powerful driver of growth for European industries. This framework can drive competitiveness as it gives certainty and predictability to companies and investors that Europe...

Read more

“Check against delivery” Bundespräsident Steinmeier, Ministerpräsident Söder, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, Like so many of you, I have been coming here for many years. From the times when it was an exclusively transatlantic audience to today, when we see political, business and thought leaders from right across the world. This is a testament not only to the great success of the Munich Security Conference. But it also reflects on how the rest of the world impacts our security and our transatlantic relationship. Our task here...

Read more

To G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors, The outlook for the global economy is characterised by shifting financial conditions and geopolitical uncertainty. Against this backdrop, it is important that we remain attentive to global financial stability, which is indispensable for economic growth. Under the G20’s leadership, and working through our members, the FSB has developed extensive reforms in recent years to enhance resilience by addressing key financial system vulnerabilities. When fully implemented, the reforms will contribute to a financial...

Read more

Blog post by Thomas Cantens, Herve Tourpe | New generative AI tools can redefine the relationship between governments and citizens, but strong leadership and safeguards are fundamental. New technologies have the potential to improve the relationship between governments and citizens. Tax portals, customs IT systems and online services have simplified interactions with public authorities, reduced bureaucratic hurdles, and increased transparency. Now, generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) is emerging as the next transformative force. Known for its ability to understand and produce human...

Read more

by Dennis Essers, Laura Lebastard, Michele Mancini, Ludovic Panon and Jacopo Timini | Using firm-level data for five EU Member States we study how disruptions to the supply of foreign critical inputs (FCIs) might affect value added. Our findings suggest a 50% reduction in imports of FCIs from China and China-aligned countries would lead to transitory value added losses in manufacturing of about 2-3%, with significant variation across firms, sectors, regions and countries. This has implications for the wider economy, growth and price stability. Global disruptions...

Read more

Blog post by Pedro Baptista, Colm Bates, António Dias da Silva, Maarten Dossche and Marco Weissler | Euro area firms hold on to their workforce, despite poor economic conditions. For a significant share of workers this means a lower workload than usual. In turn, many put more money aside as they worry about job security and wages, as the ECB Blog shows. When the economy slows down, so does labour productivity. This link is often attributed to the role of...

Read more

India, Mexico, Brazil, and some other major emerging economies recorded strong growth, while the United States continued to extend its lead as the top destination for direct investment Global foreign direct investment grew again in 2023 after declining the previous year. Inward direct investment climbed $1.75 trillion, or 4.4 percent, reaching a record $41 trillion, according to the IMF’s latest Coordinated Direct Investment Survey, which provides detailed information on direct investment positions between countries. FDI rose in most regions, with Central and...

Read more