Minister Nazare, at ECOFIN: Romania fully supports package on integration and supervision of capital markets

  Finance Minister Alexandru Nazare supported, at the Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) meeting, the modernization of European customs systems, the acceleration of capital market integration, the strengthening of financial supervision and a more balanced assessment of the impact of EU legislation on national economies."The Finance Ministers of the EU countries had discussions today at ECOFIN on the negotiations on the European Union Customs Code and the future European Customs Authority (EUCA). Romania supported the consolidation of the EUCA governance and the acceleration of the operationalization of the EU Customs Data Hub, the centralized customs data platform that will integrate and monitor in real time trade flows throughout the European Union. For Romania, these developments imply both the strengthening of customs surveillance and control capacity, as well as increasing efficiency in combating fraud, facilitating legal trade and faster integration into the future digital architecture of European customs," according to a press release from the Ministry of Finance.The Romanian Customs Authority, in coordination with the Ministry of Finance, officially submitted Romania's candidacy for hosting EUCA - a strategic structure that will become a command center for customs activities at the community level.During Friday's discussions, Romania supported the proposals for transitional solutions to eliminate the de minimis customs threshold (150 euros), given the urgent need to correct the imbalances generated by massive online imports of parcels with a value below 150 euros. In this regard, the Finance Ministers established a customs duty of 3 euros per product in parcels below this value, starting with 1 July 2026.Also on the ECOFIN agenda was the publication by the European Commission of the package on the integration and supervision of capital markets - a comprehensive set of measures through which the EU aims to harmonize rules, strengthen supervision and facilitate companies' access to financing.The package aims to create a deeper and more efficient capital market at European level, reducing the current fragmentation between member states, the press release states.According to the cited source, Minister Alexandru Nazare stressed the importance of treating it with maximum priority."Romania fully supports this package, which represents an essential step for consolidating European capital markets and stimulating investments. It is important to move forward quickly and avoid delays generated by excessively detailed analyses. The key to the success of this approach is simplification. We need clear, efficient and easy-to-apply rules that support the development of capital markets. The objective must be to stimulate investments, so that, in the near future, we can create the conditions for the development of new unicorns, including from Eastern Europe and Romania," the minister said, quoted in the press release.At the same time, the Danish presidency presented an analysis of the cumulative impact of European legislative initiatives, which could generate significant costs for administrations and companies."We emphasize the need for a common methodology at EU level for assessing costs and benefits, but also the importance of differentiated analyses, adapted to the profile of each Member State, given that the same rules produce distinct economic effects. There is a risk that excessive administrative burden will affect the competitiveness of European enterprises, especially SMEs," Minister Nazare also conveyed in this context.The economic and financial impact of Russia's aggression against Ukraine, the simplification of financial regulation, the ECA report on the implementation of the European Union budget for the financial year 2024 - the annual document of the European Court of Auditors that evaluates how European funds were used, identifies possible irregularities and makes recommendations for improving budget management - the Digital Euro package and the European Semester completed the ECOFIN agenda.