'The EU needs to invest more at home'
The European Union is the world's third-largest economy with one of the highest household saving rates, yet when our companies are scaling up, they often turn to financial markets abroad. Why? Because we export much of our vast savings, supporting innovation elsewhere, while many of our own start-ups struggle to access the necessary funding to grow.
The time has come for change and the EU needs to invest more at home. That is why seven European countries representing more than half of the EU economic output teamed up on Thursday, June 5, to channel these savings into investment in our continent's economy. Let's first consider the numbers.
In 2024, the EU economy generated €17.9 trillion in output. Wealth and value are therefore evidently created in Europe at a very large scale. Meanwhile, European households are some of the greatest savers in the world, setting aside about 13% of their income every year, five points more than American households. That represents €1 trillion of new private savings every year, much of which sits idle in cash or deposit accounts earning low returns. In total, this has created a pool of capital of €35 trillion over the years.
Meanwhile, Europe needs to invest at least 5% of its economy, or up to €800 billion a year, to close its technology and productivity gap with major competitors. Add new defense and security needs and that figure could easily surpass €1 trillion.
In this time of rising geopolitical tension and increasing barriers to trade and financial flows around the globe, these savings are a strategic asset for Europe that we must mobilize to help fill that investment shortfall.
Accelerating integration
Vital work is being done to improve the integration of our capital markets. The European Commission also put forward its strategy for a Savings and Investment Union in March. We want to thank Commissioner for Financial Services Maria Luis Albuquerque for her commitment and we will continue to work closely with her to enhance financial opportunities for EU households and businesses.
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Euronews
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Egypt stops activists marching to Gaza to draw attention to aid crisis
Egypt blocked activists planning to take part in a march to Gaza on Thursday, halting their attempt to reach the border and challenge Israel's blockade of humanitarian aid to the enclave before the march could begin. Egyptian authorities and activists both said that dozens of people planning to march across the Sinai Peninsula were deported, but organisers said they had no plans to cancel the event. To draw attention to the humanitarian crisis afflicting people in Gaza, marchers have for months planned to trek about 50 kilometres from the city of Arish to Egypt's border with Gaza on Sunday to "create international moral and media pressure" to open the crossing at Rafah and lift a blockade that has prevented aid from entering. They said they had tried to coordinate with Egyptian embassies in the various countries from which the participants came, but authorities said they had not obtained authorisation for the march. Authorities deported more than three dozen activists, mostly carrying European passports, upon their arrival at Cairo International Airport in the past two days, an Egyptian official said on Thursday. The official said the activists aimed to travel to Northern Sinai "without obtaining required authorisations." The standoff has put pressure on the activists' home countries, which are wary of seeing their citizens detained. A French diplomatic official said France is in "close contact" with Egyptian authorities about French nationals who were refused entry in Egypt or detained to ensure "consular protection." The participants risked arrest for unauthorised demonstrations in sensitive areas like the Sinai Peninsula, the official added. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak publicly on the sensitive diplomatic matter. Egypt has publicly denounced the restrictions on aid entering Gaza and repeatedly called for an end to the war. It has said that the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing remains open, but access to the Strip has been blocked since Israel seized the Palestinian side of the border as part of its war with Hamas that began in October 2023. However, authorities have for years clamped down on dissidents and activists when their criticism touches on Cairo's political and economic ties with Israel, a sensitive issue in neighbouring countries where governments maintain diplomatic relations with Israel despite broad public sympathy for Palestinians. Egypt had earlier warned that only those who received authorisation would be allowed to travel the planned march route, acknowledging it had received "numerous requests and inquiries." "Egypt holds the right to take all necessary measures to preserve its national security, including the regulation of the entry and movement of individuals within its territory, especially in sensitive border areas," its foreign ministry said in a statement on Wednesday. Israel Katz, the Israeli defence minister, yesterday referred to the protestors as "jihadists" and called on Egypt to prevent them from reaching the border with Gaza. He said they "endanger the Egyptian regime and constitute a threat to all moderate Arab regimes in the region." The march was set to begin just days after a large convoy, which organisers said included thousands of activists, travelled overland across North Africa to Egypt. Activists and attorneys said airport detentions and deportations began on Wednesday with no explicit reason given by Egyptian authorities to detainees. Algerian attorney Fatima Rouibi wrote on Facebook that Algerians, including three lawyers, were detained at the airport on Wednesday before being released and ultimately deported back to Algiers on Thursday. Bilal Nieh, a Tunisian activist who lives in Germany, said he was deported along with seven others from northern Africa who also hold European passports. Organisers said in a statement that they had received reports that at least 170 participants had been delayed or detained in Cairo. They said they had followed the protocols laid out by Egyptian authorities, met with them and urged them to let march participants into the country. "We look forward to providing any additional information the Egyptian authorities require to ensure the march continues peacefully as planned to the Rafah border," they said in a statement. The Global March to Gaza is the latest civil society effort pressing for the entry of food, fuel, medical supplies and other aid into Gaza. Israel imposed a total blockade in March in an attempt to pressure Hamas to disarm and to release hostages taken in the 7 October 2023 attack that sparked the current war in Gaza. It slightly eased restrictions last month, allowing limited aid in, but experts warn the measures fall far short. 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Euronews
4 hours ago
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Irish government rejects motion to stop sale of Israeli bonds
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Taoiseach Micheál Martin nonetheless rejected claims that the Irish government is complicit in genocide by allowing the facilitation of the bond sales. Despite publicly acknowledging the severity of Israel's attacks in Gaza, he maintained that Ireland must oppose the military action within legal and diplomatic channels. As such, the government argued that it cannot legally direct the Central Bank due to its independence under Irish and EU law. When the same objection arose last month in response to a similar motion from Sinn Féin, party leader Mary Lou McDonald argued: 'We have over 20 pages of independent, robust legal opinion clearly stating that the bill is compliant with Irish law, European law and international law.' As per the EU's Prospectus Regulation, non-EU countries like Israel must meet disclosure and legal standards to issue bonds in the bloc. If those standards are met, the Central Bank doesn't have the authority to reject bond applications. 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In the absence of new EU sanctions or changes to existing legislation, the Central Bank will remain legally bound to approve the bond prospectus, regardless of the political fallout. Meanwhile, protesters have been gathering for months outside the seat of the parliament, Leinster House, and the Central Bank, demanding that the government block Israeli bond sales. Britain's economic recovery suffered a setback in April, with gross domestic product (GDP) shrinking by 0.3% on a monthly basis, marking the steepest contraction since October 2023, according to data released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on Thursday. The contraction, which exceeded market expectations of a 0.1% fall, has renewed concerns over the UK economy's resilience and intensified pressure on both Downing Street and the Bank of England (BoE)'s policy stance. 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The FTSE 100 held steady around 8,860 points, just shy of Wednesday's all-time high of 8,885. Among the notable movers, Halma plc surged over 8% on the back of strong corporate results. BP also gained 1.8%, buoyed by higher oil prices following the announcement of a trade agreement between the United States and China. On the downside, Intermediate Capital Group and EasyJet dropped 4.1% and 2.6%, respectively.
Euronews
5 hours ago
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Italy not liable for Libyan coastguard actions in migrant boat sinking
Judges at the European Court of Human Rights ruled on Thursday that Italy can't be held liable for the actions of Libya's coastguard, rejecting a case brought by a group of migrants rescued from the Mediterranean Sea in a fatal boat sinking in 2017. The court in Strasbourg declared the case inadmissible, finding Italy didn't have "effective control" of the expanse of waters off the coast of Tripoli where the small ship carrying around 150 people sank. Twenty people died in the sinking and around 45 survivors said they were taken to Tajura Detention Centre in Tripoli where they were beaten and abused. The judges found that the captain and crew of the Libyan vessel Ras Jadir had acted independently when they answered a distress signal in the early morning hours on 6 November 2017. Since 2017, Italy has supplied Libya with funding, vessels and training as part of an agreement to slow the numbers of migrants crossing the Mediterranean. However, the judges found that this support didn't prove that "Italy had taken over Libya's public-authority powers." A group of migrants was rescued by the humanitarian organisation Sea Watch and were taken to Italy. A ruling in favour of the 14 survivors who filed the complaint at the ECHR could have undermined international agreements made by several EU countries with Libya, Turkey and others to prevent migrants from coming to European shores. The ECHR handles complaints against the 46 member states of the Council of Europe. The intergovernmental organisation isn't an EU institution and was set up after World War II to promote peace and democracy. Libya isn't a member of the Council of Europe, so the court has no jurisdiction over the country's actions. Three right-wing political groups at the European Parliament are attempting for a second time to establish an investigative inquiry committee into NGO financing by the European Commission, as Transparency International alleges an MEP-orchestrated smear campaign against civil society and is launching a complaint about leaks. German newspaper Welt Am Sonntag claimed last week that the EU executive had allegedly secretly paid environmental NGOs up to €700,000 to promote the bloc's climate policy. The Commission denied the allegations of secret payments and a spokesperson told Euronews that the executive exercises a high degree of transparency when it comes to providing funding to NGOs. "The latest revelations published by the German press about murky ties between the European Commission and environmental NGOs make the establishment of a parliamentary committee of inquiry into the so-called 'Green Gate' scandal ever more urgent," European Conservatives and Reformists MEP Carlo Fidanza said in a press release, adding: "This committee, which has been requested by the ECR Group and backed by 200 MEPs from various political families, is essential." Hungarian Patriots MEP Csaba Dömötör told Euronews he believes more transparency is needed in relation to NGO contracts with the European Commission. "We see that they finance a blindly ideologically driven agenda from taxpayers' money, for which the price and the burden will be paid by taxpayers," Dömötör said, adding: "The Commission says those contracts are not secret. We will see, as we will launch targeted information requests to know the content of those lobbying contracts. The European Commission will have its chance to open up and to prove that the democratic values that they request from member states are also valid for themselves." The Welt allegations first surfaced in February, and in April a parliamentary committee voted down a raft of amendments from right-wing lawmakers seeking to incorporate sharp criticism of EU funding for non-governmental organisations into the discharge of the bloc's 2023 budget. As well as rejecting a joint proposal by Fidesz and France's Rassemblement National to condemn an 'enormous EU-NGO propaganda complex', the committee at that time also rejected a slew of amendments tabled by conservative European People's Party (EPP) lawmaker Monika Hohlmeier. Among these was a call for the EU Court of Auditors (ECA) to conduct a probe specifically into the LIFE Programme, the bloc's funding instrument for environmental projects on the ground, a small portion of which supports campaign groups through operating grants. The Conference of the Presidents at the European Parliament will now decide on the establishment of the committee next week in Strasbourg. Another two right-wing groups, Patriots for Europe and Europe of Sovereign Nations, also lined up in support of the initiative. Rene Aust, chair of ESN, told Euronews the group will support any inquiry into the misuse of public funds. "The Commission is paying activists to shape public opinion – this is not neutral governance, but orchestrated democracy," Aust said. The position of the European People's Party group is not clear-cut, since not all MEPs share Hohlmeier's position. Meanwhile, Transparency International EU director Nick Aiossa told Euronews that the claims of NGO's shadow-lobbying for the Commission have already been debunked. "These are already debunked stories that were circulated in February," said Aiossa, adding: "I simply don't understand why the German press would jump on this, unless, of course, it has a more political agenda behind it from the people who are leaking the contracts." He said that Commission funding of civil society in order to participate in public debate is a good thing, and that ample transparency measures already exist. Back in April, Transparency International stood up against the idea of an inquiry committee in an open letter. "These coordinated attacks that we've seen from this House over the last six months have three very clear objectives. They're meant to discredit NGOs. They're meant to distract NGOs to try and counter these false narratives in the press but ultimately, unfortunately, the ultimate objective is to defund NGOs. And we are about to see this play out in the new budget negotiations that are going to take place over the next several years," Aiossa added. He said that a small circle of right-wing MEPs is responsible for leaking sensitive data to the press, and that Transparency would be filing a legal complaint on the issue. "We've had a handful of MEPs have access to a limited amount of confidential documents that they are using to leak to journalists as part of a smear campaign against NGOs. There are rules in place in how these documents must be handled because they are confidential, and there's no accountability in this House on these leaks. And so I intend to submit a formal complaint to both the Commission as well as the president of the Parliament." At the heart of the latest media revelations on EU funding for environmental NGOs are the LIFE operating grants. These are part of the EU's LIFE programme, a €5.4 billion budget (2021–2027) aimed at financing projects related to green innovation, circular economy, energy efficiency, nature conservation, and pollution reduction. Around €15.6 million of this is allocated to environmental NGOs via operating grants and under this scheme, individual organisations may receive up to €700,000 annually. Grants are awarded through open calls with clear eligibility criteria and NGOs are evaluated not by the Commission directly but by agencies such as, in the case of LIFE , the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA). Advocacy through lobbying is permitted but not required or directed under the grants. Each grant includes the disclaimer that 'views and opinions expressed' by NGOs 'do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union'. Grant conditions are public, and there is no requirement that applicants align their objectives with Commission interests to receive funding. In short: NGOs retain full autonomy over how they use the money, within legal and contractual boundaries. They are subject to transparency rules, must uphold EU values, and are routinely audited. If they fail to implement their work programmes, funding can be withdrawn. While much of the oversight relies on self-reporting – one of the main pitfalls of the system – the Commission is enhancing its risk-based verification following advice from the European Court of Auditors. In April 2025, the EU auditors labelled the Commission's funding process as 'opaque' and warned of potential reputational risks. However, it found no evidence during a year-long probe of any wrongdoing by either NGOs or European Commission officials. As a result, the Commission last year issued new guidance to prevent EU funding from being used for direct lobbying of EU institutions following these concerns. With additional reporting by Gerardo Fortuna
