Germany's Ministry of Finance reported on a Berlin meeting between Finance Minister and Vice Chancellor Lars Klingbeil and French Minister for Economy and Finance Roland Lescure, where they agreed to work closely on a Franco-German roadmap to improve the availability of late-stage growth capital for European scale-ups, building on the FIVE report. The discussion also linked the scale-up agenda to broader efforts to deepen the EU Savings and Investment Union and capital market integration. Planned near- to medium-term steps include launching a European initiative modelled on Tibi and WIN, open to other member states, to connect European institutional investors with pan-European venture capital and growth funds, and backing the European Investment Fund’s continuation of the European Tech Champions Initiative as ETCI 2.0 with improved conditions for private investors and a structure that can include additional member states, supported by a recently announced European Investment Bank contribution and bilateral funding. The ministers will also examine greater harmonisation of the tax treatment of stock options, push for an agreement on the “28th legal framework” for a new EU corporate law form, and pursue measures to make EU initial public offerings more attractive; they welcomed the Council agreement on the securitisation package and urged the European Commission to bring forward targeted simplifications in financial services regulation and to publish a competitiveness report on the EU banking sector with concrete proposals. A joint taskforce on the future of digital finance will work with key stakeholders to identify drivers, obstacles and developments, including measures to strengthen the euro’s international role in digital payments and to promote euro-linked stablecoins and tokenised deposits, and an assessment of tokenisation’s potential to improve market efficiency and open new financing channels. The taskforce’s findings are due to be compiled in a report for publication in the second half of 2026; the ministers also reaffirmed cooperation on OECD-led international tax reform, welcomed a solution for the global minimum tax “side by side” system, and supported restarting negotiations on a digital tax.

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