According to Eurostat data, in the euro area, the household saving rate stood at 15.3% in the fourth quarter of 2024, remaining consistent with the third quarter of 2024. In broader EU data, households’ investment rate has been persistently lower—around 9.5% in recent years. This disparity highlights how much of household income remains in low-yield savings rather than being deployed into capital markets.

Retail investment through funds has risen in recent years: in 2024, EU households injected €258 billion into investment funds—the second-highest annual amount on record—and the share of retail clients in total assets under management grew from 26% in 2019 to 30.8% by end-2023. These trends reflect growing household engagement with capital markets across Europe.

Stefan Berger is a German politician from the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and has been a Member of the European Parliament since 2019. He sits in the European People’s Party group and is active especially on the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs and the Subcommittee on Tax Matters, serving as rapporteur on the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) file, signaling his focus on digital finance and regulatory oversight. Berger's prior political career includes membership of the North Rhine-Westphalia state parliament and academic work in economics.

The European Parliament is the EU’s directly elected legislative institution, with members elected every five years; it shares law-making and budgetary power with the Council under the "ordinary legislative procedure" and also exercises oversight of the Commission. It debates, amends, and approves legislation proposed by the Commission—including economic and financial regulation—and can reject or delay EU law via its co-legislator role. It also supervises budgets, approves Commissioners, and monitors executive actions.