The deepening and enlargement of Europe’s capital markets has long been a policy target for the EU – indeed, it is a flagship priority of the current Commission. Many legislative proposals have been forwarded, and there is widespread agreement on the necessity of the Capital Markets Union (CMU) project, but few tangible measures have been formally adopted.

Joining Bruegel director Guntram Wolff for this week’s Director’s Cut of ‘The Sound of Economics’ is Valdis Dombrovskis, vice-president of the European Commission, overseeing the department of Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union.

The Bruegel director met Vice-President Dombrovskis at the informal meeting of the EU’s Ecofin Council in Sofia, where the former presented a research paper (co-written by André Sapir and Nicolas Véron) advocating significant steps forward in the CMU project.

The vice-president here expounds on the Commission’s own planned measures to have significant initial elements in place before the end of the current term in 2019.