EU’s Von der Leyen reaffirms urgent need to simplify regulations in Europe

BRUSSELS, Feb 11 (Reuters) – The European Union must simplify its regulations on companies ‌doing business in the region in ‌order to make the bloc more competitive against the ​likes of the United States and China, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Wednesday.

“Let me take the U.S. example ‌again. One financial ⁠system, one financial capital, and a handful of other financial centres. Here ⁠in Europe, we do not only have 27 different financial systems, each with its ​own supervisor,” ​she said at ​a speech in the ‌European Parliament.

“But also, more than 300 trading venues across our Union. That is fragmentation on steroids. We need one large, deep and liquid capital market. And this is the ‌goal of our Savings ​and Investment Union,” she ​added.

Von der Leyen ​added she would propose EU ‌leaders endorse at a March ​EU summit ​a joint single market roadmap to 2028, with a clear timetable on when ​steps to ‌deepen the EU’s single market are taken.

(Reporting ​by Lili Bayer;Writing by Sudip Kar-Gupta, ​editing by Philip Blenkinsop)