Does the EU need to “steal” non-public financial savings? – DW – 03/29/2025 | EUROtoday

Last week in Brussels, two EU initiatives sparked vital controversy and heated discussions on social networks. First, the European Commission introduced the White Paper for European Defence – Readiness 2030which goals to allow member states to take a position extra quickly and considerably of their protection sectors. Second, the Commission launched its technique for a financial savings and funding union. This technique is designed to create extra incentives for funding, permitting Europe-wide funds to be established, making it simpler for residents to take a position their cash in varied sectors, together with environmental, digital know-how and protection.

Claim: Social media posts urged these new EU plans threatened the non-public financial savings of European residents. For instance, one person on X wrote: “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 customers on X have shared posts with an identical wording (Examples 12). Additionally, movies with alarming messages are circulating on YouTube and Telegram (Examples 12): “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 CHECK: FALSE

Does the EU have direct entry to savers’ non-public belongings?

The Savings and Investment Union, unveiled on March 19, is the revival of a long-discussed imaginative and prescient often called the Capital 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 director on the Leibniz Institute for Financial Research in Frankfurt am Main, defined in an interview with DW.

Carsten Brzeski, chief economist at ING Bank, says, “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 €10 trillion ($10.1 trillion) is at present held in bizarre financial institution accounts throughout Europe. The EU goals to create incentives for residents to take a position their financial savings within the capital markets, for instance, to safe financial savings for retirement. Additionally, small and medium-sized enterprises are to be given simpler entry to capital on the European degree. However, what is meant as a proposal has been perceived by some social media customers as a type of expropriation.

“The money is yours. The only way for the state to access people’s money is through taxes,” says Heider. He views the EU’s initiative as an try to create extra transparency and understanding of the monetary 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 explains.”By investing in the capital market, you can choose exactly where you want to invest. The EU wants to give you more control, which is the opposite of expropriation.”

Can the EU make investments savers’ cash in protection?

Another accusation is that the EU would make investments savers’ cash in protection with out their data. Many X posts seek advice from a report by Russian information company TASS. The authentic report from March 5 states in 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 suggestion right here is that the EU’s new Savings and Investment Union will take savers’ cash for navy functions with out their consent or data.

“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,” mentioned European Commission spokesperson Olof Gill in response to a DW inquiry.

In brief, anybody who needs to spend money on protection can accomplish that. “But nobody can force savers to do something with their money that they don’t want to,” says Brzeski.

Stoking fears

Some claims on social media even advocate withdrawing cash from the EU. According to Heider, such claims are deliberate 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 defined.

These benefits are additionally acknowledged by overseas traders and cash is at present flowing 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 famous.

Based on the present authorized system, the EU has no entry to personal financial savings accounts. On the opposite, a quantity EU laws are designed to guard residents’ financial savings. One instance is the Deposit Guarantee Schemewhich compensates traders within the occasion of financial institution failures.

You can discover extra reality checks and verifications on the DW Fact test web page.

Edited by: Rachel Baig