German Finance Minister says we have to move forward with capital market union, expects proposals from the EU on the windfall tax

Capital markets union has been a standing EU project across successive Commission cycles, and finance-ministerial advocacy of it has historically been cheap talk unless paired with Commission proposals and Council traction; Germany's support matters more than most given its role as the bloc's anchor, but past pushes have tended to stall on securitisation, insolvency and supervisory centralisation long after the rhetorical stage. The windfall-tax reference is the more concrete near-term item: measures of this kind in Europe have followed a familiar sequence of Commission proposal, Council negotiation under unanimity or delegated formats, and national transposition, with the open questions being scope, base, and who collects. Remarks of this sort from a finance minister signal agenda-setting rather than imminent policy; the tells are whether the Commission tables actual text and whether other large member states line up behind it. Bank and energy names are the usual transmission points for windfall-tax proposals, with the distinction between a one-off levy and a standing surcharge determining how much is capitalised. As commentary without a proposal attached, this is directional positioning; the calendar item is the Commission's formal package.