The Treaty establishing the European Community stipulates an “ever closer union of the peoples of Europe” as one of its principal objectives. In doing so, the founding fathers of the Community formulated a dynamic, comprehensive, and purposely equivocal “vision of Europe” as the centrepiece of the integration project. In pursuing this objective, Europe has often followed a process of incremental steps.
By not participating in the capital market, retail investors are missing opportunities to share in business success. Where this is due to a lack of knowledge and understanding, financial  BIS central bankers’ speeches  7  education as provided by organisations such as Deutsches Aktieninstitut can help to gradually increase the participation rate.