European Commissioner Maria L Albuquerque advocates for investing in savings with risk
The Union of Savings and Investments is "an idea that seeks to create opportunities for people's savings to be invested with a higher return, especially when we think of long-term savings,' she said.
'We will issue a recommendation to the Member States to create a savings and investment account, through which a set of investment options that are simple, low-cost (...) and with tax incentives will be made available so that people feel more drawn to this type of investment."
The European Commissioner acknowledges that the alternative to fixed-term deposits is investment in financial products with higher risk, in the medium- and long-term.
"We will recommend to the Member States that they create these accounts, in which the products offered are, obviously, suitable to the profile of the retail investor. But yes, investment in the capital market involves risk. There is no capital guarantee."
But, if the money is a low-interest deposit, bank customers are losing money due to inflation.
"They are, in a way that they do not realise, probably. Because, if we put €1,000 in a deposit, at the end of the period we will receive that €1,000 plus interest. The truth is that with that €1,000, we can buy fewer things. When it is said that money is lost in deposits, it is not losing in terms of euros, but what we can purchase with them. It is, therefore, a loss and a waste of the savings effort," emphasised Maria Luís Albuquerque.
Regarding the protectionist positions of some EU governments concerning mergers and acquisitions of foreign banks, as is the case with Portugal, the European Commissioner has a warning.
"There are, in fact, very focused protectionist attitudes regarding a national perspective. I have been saying that we need to change our way of thinking and we must understand that being domestic means being European,' she said.
'The Commission, as you know, never comments on specific cases. But, concerning banking issues, we have in place a banking union that already involves all the countries in the euro area, and in which the rules that must be followed for mergers and acquisitions of banking institutions are defined. It is the European Central Bank, the relevant supervisor, and the competition authorities that must pronounce on any specific operation."
European companies and banks need to be bigger and gain scale to compete with the US and other regions, argues Maria Luís Albuquerque.
"For us to compete with the United States, with China, with the big international blocs, we need the muscle that represents the European Union as a whole and not each of the member states per se.'
'Because none of us is big enough, even the largest, or powerful enough to face that level of competition. Therefore, in that sense, we need companies and banks that are capable of competing with the big global financial institutions to offer more and better services, at more competitive prices," Maria Luís Albuquerque explained.
A new study revealed that Denmark, Finland and Sweden are the top three among 16 European countries ranked by their favourability towards women in the workplace and living conditions in 2025.
The research from an online gaming company, CasinooftheKings, gathered data from Eurostat, OECD, the International Labour Organisation and the European Institute for Gender Equality to analyse gender-related economic and social indicators across 16 countries.
The 10 key indicators include the gender wage gap, bank account ownership and the share of women who are entrepreneurs.
Denmark leads the list, with a life score of 83, reflecting smaller gaps in employment and high gender equality.
The country offers the longest maternity leave in the ranking, with 18 months, and has a high gender equality index of 0.78.
Denmark also has the smallest gender gap in managerial positions, with 27.9%.
In second place is Finland, with a life score of 80.
The country has more female entrepreneurs than Denmark, at 1.9%, and the smallest employment gap in the ranking, at 1.5%.
However, it trails behind in maternal leave availability and the gender wage gap.
Sweden ranks third on the list of the best countries for women to work and live in 2025, scoring 79.
The country has the widest gender gap in managerial positions in the top 10, with 42.3%, but stands out with a small wage gap of 7.3% and a full year of maternity leave.
"The Nordic countries continue to dominate global rankings for gender equality in the workplace, demonstrating that comprehensive social policies can create environments where women thrive professionally," said a spokesperson from CasinooftheKings.
"These results highlight how structural supports like parental leave and wage transparency translate to measurable differences in women's lives, providing a blueprint for other nations seeking to improve gender equality."
On the other hand, Italy and Greece are at the bottom of the list, with life scores of 52 and 56.
Italy has the highest employment gap among all the analysed countries, followed by Greece.
Meanwhile, the UK has the smallest percentage of women entrepreneurs, and France has the widest median gender wage gap, at 22.2%.
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