From 7 June 2023 to 7 July 2023, the EU conducted its inaugural Investor Survey and collected feedback from market participants on their perception of the EU issuance programme’s central characteristics.
The survey received high participation from market participants, with 128 replies from a diversified group of investors, both in terms of investor type and geography. 
According to survey participants, the characteristics of EU securities compare well with those of European Government Bonds: 

• For 80% of the respondents the functioning of the EU-Bond market resembles closely that of the bond markets for the liquid and highly rated euro government bond issuers.
• The size of EU’s outstanding debt, the regular high-volume supply of EU debt, the EU’s approach to market communication, the use of auctions and the overall funding strategy are assessed by the majority of respondents as highly comparable to the EGB issuers.

Respondents also noted that:

• The Commission’s plans to introduce quoting arrangements for EU-Bonds this autumn and the repo facility planned for mid-2024 are very important steps in aligning the market characteristics for EU Bonds with those of EGBs.
• The treatment of EU-Bonds as collateral is seen as requiring further progress by about 62% of respondents.
• Introduction of a "futures” contract is an important additional measure.
• Inclusion of EU-Bonds in ‘sovereign indices’ is the single-most important remaining step in order for EU-

Bonds to trade and price similarly to European government bonds.

A big thank you to everyone who participated. The results provide valuable input for our reflections in the coming months. 

You can read more about these results here.