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EU’s Von der Leyen reaffirms urgent need to simplify regulations in Europe

By Thomson Reuters Feb 11, 2026 | 2:45 AM

BRUSSELS, Feb 11 (Reuters) – The European Union must simplify its regulations on companies doing business in ​the region in order to ‌make the bloc more competitive against the likes of the United States and China, European Commission President Ursula von der ‌Leyen ​said on Wednesday.

“Let me ⁠take the U.S. ⁠example again. One financial system, one financial capital, and a handful of other financial centres. Here in ​Europe, we do not only have 27 different financial systems, each ⁠with its own ⁠supervisor,” she said at a ​speech in the European Parliament.

“But also, ​more than 300 trading venues across ‌our Union. That is fragmentation on steroids. We need one large, deep and liquid capital market. And ⁠this is the goal of our Savings and Investment Union,” she added.

Von der Leyen ⁠added she ‌would propose EU leaders ⁠endorse at a March EU ​summit ‌a joint single market ​roadmap to ⁠2028, with a clear timetable on when steps to deepen the EU’s single market are taken.

(Reporting by Lili Bayer;Writing by Sudip Kar-Gupta, editing by ​Philip Blenkinsop)