Germany advances work‑time overhaul and pushes for EU financial market centralisation

German finance minister Lars Klingbeil announced that Berlin is ready to back a more centralised model of supervision for EU financial markets, shifting authority from national regulator BaFin to the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA). The move is presented as a way to deepen capital‑market integration across the EU and could remove a major obstacle to the bloc’s capital‑market union reforms.

At the same time, the governing coalition of the Social Democrats and Greens is preparing a new work‑time law that would replace the historic eight‑hour‑per‑day limit, introduced in 1918, with a weekly‑hours accounting system. Employers argue the change will give companies greater flexibility to address demographic challenges, while trade unions and the German Trade Union Confederation warn it could erode workers’ protections. The proposal is expected to be tabled in the Bundestag in June.