Germany’s Christian Social Union has pledged to support Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s push for a single European stock exchange, sharpening momentum behind broader efforts to integrate the bloc’s capital markets.

In a draft paper seen by Reuters, the CSU said: “We support the strengthening of European capital markets and a European bourse in order to keep successful German companies in the country.” The party added: “We intend to take on a clear leadership role in this process and ensure that the headquarters of a European bourse are located in the European Union’s biggest economy, Germany.”

Merz told the Bundestag that a unified exchange would help high-growth firms raise money at scale. “We need a kind of European stock exchange so that successful companies such as biotech firms from Germany do not have to go to the New York Stock Exchange,” he said, arguing that “our companies need a sufficiently broad and deep capital market so that they can finance themselves better and, above all, faster.”

The chancellor has tied the proposal to Franco-German work on the capital markets union, including exploring centralised supervision. Plans under discussion would hand selected oversight powers to the European Securities and Markets Authority, a shift long resisted in Berlin but now being examined by Germany’s finance minister Lars Klingbeil. European Central Bank president Christine Lagarde and Bundesbank president Joachim Nagel have also voiced support for deeper market integration, citing Europe’s fragmented rule-books and supervision as a structural handicap when compared with the United States.

Industry leaders have begun to line up behind consolidation. Stéphane Boujnah, the chief executive officer of Euronext, said the group was “ready to contribute to the next level of consolidation of markets in Europe,” adding that giving supervisory powers to Esma would tackle “the divergence in regulation and supervision” and that “we need a decisive move towards single supervision.” Deutsche Börse pointed to “insufficient investor demand and a high degree of fragmentation,” though it declined to comment directly on consolidation or supervision.

Merz framed the exchange push within a wider competitiveness agenda leaning on recommendations from Mario Draghi’s report on productivity. “Productivity is the most important prerequisite for competitiveness,” he said, adding that “Europe will only become more productive if it changes profoundly.”

The CSU paper precedes party meetings in Seeon and signals a bid to anchor any future pan-European bourse in Germany. Supporters say a unified market could deepen liquidity, boost initial public offerings and keep European champions listing at home.

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