Does the EU want to “steal” unique monetary financial savings?- DW- 03/29/2025

Last week in Brussels, 2 EU efforts stimulated appreciable dispute and warmed conversations on socials media. First, the European Commission provided the White Paper for European Defence – Readiness 2030, which intends to permit participant states to spend so much extra swiftly and considerably of their safety fields. Second, the Commission introduced its technique for asavings and investment union This technique is created to supply much more rewards for monetary funding, allowing Europe- broad funds to be developed, making it a lot simpler for residents to spend their money in quite a few fields, consisting of ecological, digital trendy expertise and safety.

Claim: Social media messages advisable these brand-new EU methods intimidated the unique monetary financial savings of European residents. For occasion, one user on X created: “The European Commission plans to take €10 trillion of citizens’ savings for EU defense. This is economic suicide. *Get your money out of European banks. They’re going to take your money from your bank account.”

Multiple people on X have truly shared messages with the identical phrasing (Examples 1, 2). Additionally, video clips with startling messages are distributing on You Tube and Telegram (Examples 1, 2): “The EU is reaching for our savings! Under the guise of ‘defense,’ billions of private funds are set to flow into the arms industry. Democracy is a thing of the past — now Brussels and Ursula von der Leyen are deciding what happens with our money. Forced investment for war?”

DW Fact examine: False

Does the EU have straight accessibility to savers’ unique possessions?

The Savings and Investment Union, launched on March 19, is the resurgence of a long-discussed imaginative and prescient known as theCapital Markets Union “It is an effort to create a unified capital market for Europe, harmonize laws, eliminate borders, and establish common European investment opportunities,” Florian Heider, scientific supervisor on the Leibniz Institute for Financial Research in Frankfurt am Main, clarified in a gathering with DW.

Carsten Brzeski, main monetary skilled at ING Bank, claims, “we have a significant need for investment in Europe that cannot be met by the state alone. Private investment is also essential. There is a substantial amount of savings in Europe sitting in bank accounts at low interest rates. The question is: Can’t this dormant cash be used for more productive economic investment?”

According to the EU, round EUR10 trillion ($ 10.1 trillion) is presently saved in common financial savings account all throughEurope The EU intends to supply rewards for residents to spend their monetary financial savings within the funding markets, for example, to safeguard monetary financial savings for retired life. Additionally, tiny and medium-sized enterprise are to be provided a lot simpler accessibility to funding on the European diploma. However, what is supposed as a deal has truly been regarded by some social networks people as a sort of expropriation.

“The money is yours. The only way for the state to access people’s money is through taxes,” claimsHeider He checks out the EU’s marketing campaign as an effort to supply much more openness and understanding of the financial markets: “You don’t know what the bank does with the money in your savings account. For instance, you don’t know which companies your bank lends money to,” he describes.”By investing within the capital market, you may select precisely the place you wish to make investments. The EU desires to offer you extra management, which is the alternative of expropriation.”

Can the EU spend savers’ money in safety?

Another allegation is that the EU would definitely spend savers’ money in safety with out their experience. Many X messages describe a report by Russian info agencyTASS The preliminary report from March 5 states at the beginning that, “the European Commission estimates the total level of unused savings of EU citizens at €10 trillion, and it intends to find ways to mobilize this money to finance its plans to militarize Europe and support the European military-industrial complex.”

The pointer beneath is that the EU’s brand-new Savings and Investment Union will definitely take savers’ money for armed forces features with out their permission or experience.

“The headline in question is a clear example of Russian information manipulation. As clearly outlined by President von der Leyen, Commissioner Albuquerque and a wide variety of official EU Commission publications, EU citizens enjoy and will continue enjoying full freedom to invest based on their personal choices: they will always have total control of where they want to keep and allocate their money,” claimed European Commission agent Olof Gill in motion to a DW question.

In quick, any person who intends to purchase safety can accomplish that. “But nobody can force savers to do something with their money that they don’t want to,” claims Brzeski.

Stoking worries

Some declares on social networks additionally assist taking out money from the EU. According to Heider, such insurance coverage claims are intentional disinformation. “The intention behind this is to weaken Europe. If the money is not in Europe, it benefits other countries, not Europe. Of course, you can invest in third countries. However, the advantage of the eurozone is that it is legally secure, offers deposit guarantees, and has no exchange rate risk,” he clarified.

These advantages are moreover acknowledged by worldwide financiers and money is presently transferring proper into European markets. “We are observing a trend in the opposite direction. Capital is coming from the US to Europe, which is why European stock markets have performed so well in the last two to three weeks. Many investors have reallocated from the US to Europe,” Brzeski saved in thoughts.

Based on the present lawful system, the EU has no accessibility to unique interest-bearing accounts. On the opposite, a quantity EU legal guidelines are created to protect residents’ monetary financial savings. One occasion is the Deposit Guarantee Scheme, which makes up financiers in case of monetary establishment failings.

You can find much more reality checks and confirmations on the DW Fact examine internet web page.

Edited by: Rachel Baig