16 Amendments of Alfred SANT related to 2016/0276(COD)
Amendment 97 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 6
Recital 6
(6) The EFSI was established for an initial period of three years and with the aim of mobilising at least EUR 315 billion in investments. Given its partial success, the Commission is committed to the doubling of the EFSI, both in terms of duration and financial capacity. The legal extension covers the period of the current Multiannual Financial Framework and should provide a total of at least half a trillion euro investments by 2020. In order to enhance the firepower of the EFSI even further and reach the aim of doubling the investment target, Member States should also contribute as a matter of priority. In particular, Member States with fiscal space should be encouraged to carry out more expansionary fiscal policy by making full use of the tools of the Investment Plan for Europe and by contributing to the EFSI.
Amendment 118 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 8
Recital 8
(8) The extended EFSI should address remaining market failures and sub-optimal investment situations and continue to mobilise private sector financing in investments crucial for Europe’'s future job creation – including for the youth –, growth and competitiveness with strengthened additionality. They include investments in the areas of energy, environment and climate action, social and human capital and related infrastructure, healthcare, housing projects, research and innovation, cross- border and sustainable transport, as well as the digital transformation. In particular, the contribution of operations supported by the EFSI to achieving the Union's ambitious targets set at the Paris Climate Conference (COP21) should be reinforced. Energy interconnection priority projects and energy efficiency projects should also be increasingly targeted. Given the high rates of poverty and social exclusion in Europe, EFSI operations for investments into enterprises focusing on social infrastructure, social services and education should be reinforced. In addition, EFSI support to motorways should be avoided, unless it is needed to support private investment in transport in cohesion countries or in cross-border transport projects involving at least one cohesion country. For reasons of clarity, although they are already eligible, it should be explicitly laid down that projects in the fields of agriculture, fishery and aquaculture come within the general objectives eligible for EFSI support.
Amendment 139 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 9
Recital 9
(9) Additionality, a key feature of the EFSI, should be strengthened in the selection of projects. In particular, operations should only be eligible for EFSI support if they address clearly identified market failures or sub-optimal investment situations. Operations in infrastructure under the Infrastructure and Innovation Window linking two or more Member States, as well as operations in insular and peripheral EU regions, including e- infrastructure, should be considered additional given their inherent difficulty and their high added value for the Union.
Amendment 150 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 10
Recital 10
(10) Due to their potentialIn order to achieve a wider geographic coverage and to increase the efficiency of the EFSI intervention, blending operations combining non- reimbursable forms of support and/or financial instruments from the Union budget, such as the European Structural and Investment Funds or those available under the Connecting Europe Facility, and financing from EIB Group, including EIB financing under the EFSI, as well as other investors should be encouraged. Blending aims to enhance the value added of Union spending by attracting additional resources from private investors and to ensure the actions supported become economically and financially viable.
Amendment 167 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 11
Recital 11
(11) In order to reinforce the take-up of the EFSI in less-developed and transition regions, the scope of the general objectives eligible for EFSI support should be enlarged. Further action to strengthen technical assistance in these regions is necessary.
Amendment 193 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 16
Recital 16
(16) In line with the exceptional market demand for SME financing under the EFSI which is expected to continue, the EFSI SME Window should be enhanced. Particular attention should be paid to social enterprises, including through the development and deployment of new instruments. Public subsidiaries which fit the employee and profit ceilings established by Commission Recommendation 2003/361/EC should be considered to be eligible to apply for funding through the EFSI SME Window.
Amendment 201 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 17
Recital 17
(17) The EIB and the EIF should ensure that the final beneficiaries, including SMEs, are informed of the existence of EFSI support, so as to enhance the visibility of the EU guarantee granted under Regulation (EU) 2015/1017. In this regard, recognizes the role of Local and Regional Authorities in identifying strategic projects and encourages their participation.
Amendment 226 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 21
Recital 21
(21) The European Investment Advisory Hub (EIAH) should be enhanced and its activities should focus on needs not covered adequately under current arrangements in EU Member States and regions which have not yet adequately benefitted from EFSI. It should pay particular attention to supporting the preparation of projects involving two or more Member States and projects that contribute to achieving the objectives of COP21. Notwithstanding its objective to build upon existing advisory services of the EIB and the Commission, so to act as a single technical advisory hub for project financing within the Union, the EIAH should also contribute actively to the objective of sectorial and geographical diversification of the EFSI and support the EIB where needed in originating projects. It should alsostrengthen its cooperation with Local and Regional Authorities, actively contribute to the establishment of investment platforms in regions with low investment capacity and provide advice on the combination of other sources of Union funding with the EFSI, with a focus on SMEs.
Amendment 279 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 1 – paragraph 1 – point 2
Article 1 – paragraph 1 – point 2
Regulation (EU) No 2015/2017
Article 5 – paragraph 1– subparagraph 3
Article 5 – paragraph 1– subparagraph 3
To better address market failures or sub- optimal investment situations, EIB special activities supported by the EFSI shall typically have features such as subordination, participation in risk-sharing instruments, cross-border or peripheral characteristics, exposure to specific risks or other identifiable aspects as further described in Annex II.
Amendment 287 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 1 – paragraph 1 – point 2
Article 1 – paragraph 1 – point 2
Regulation (EU) No 2015/1017
Article 5 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 5
Article 5 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 5
The projects supported by the EFSI that consist of physical infrastructure linking two or more Member States or of the extension of physical infrastructure or services linked to physical infrastructure from one Member State to one or more Member States, as well as those in peripheral islands of the EU, shall also be considered to provide additionality.
Amendment 347 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 1 – paragraph 1 – point 5 – point -a (new)Regulation (EU) 2015/1017
Article 1 – paragraph 1 – point 5 – point -a (new)Regulation (EU) 2015/1017
Article 9 – paragraph 2 – point g – point v
(-a) in Article 9, in paragraph 2 point (g), point (v) is replaced by the following: ‘(iv) social infrastructures, social services and solidarity economy;’
Amendment 407 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 1 – paragraph 1 – point 9 – point a – point i
Article 1 – paragraph 1 – point 9 – point a – point i
Regulation (EU) No 2015/1017
Article 14 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 1 – second sentence
Article 14 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 1 – second sentence
Such support shall include providing targeted support on the use of technical assistance for project structuring, on the use of innovative financial instruments and on the use of public-private partnerships, taking into account the specificities and needs of Member States with less- developed financial markets, as well as administrative and technical capacities.
Amendment 414 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 1 – paragraph 1 – point 9 – point b – point i
Article 1 – paragraph 1 – point 9 – point b – point i
Regulation (EU) No 2015/1017
Article 14 – paragraph 2 – point c
Article 14 – paragraph 2 – point c
(c) leveraging local knowledge to facilitate EFSI support across the Union and contributing where possible to the objective of sectorial and geographical diversification of the EFSI referred to in Section 8 of Annex II by supporting the EIB to originate operations; in particular, in less developed, insular as well as peripheral regions, also throughout a better involvement of SMEs;
Amendment 433 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 1 – paragraph 1 – point 9 – point c
Article 1 – paragraph 1 – point 9 – point c
Regulation (EU) 2015/1017
Article 14 – paragraph 5
Article 14 – paragraph 5
5. In order to achieve the objective referred to in paragraph 1, to overcome any barrier to investment identified during the operations, and to facilitate the provision of advisory support at local level, the EIAH shall seek to use the expertise of the EIB, the Commission, national promotional banks or institutions, and the managing authorities of the European Structural and Investment Funds.;
Amendment 437 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 1 – paragraph 1 – point 9 – point d
Article 1 – paragraph 1 – point 9 – point d
Regulation (EU) No 2015/1017
Article 14 – paragraph 6 – second sentence
Article 14 – paragraph 6 – second sentence
Cooperation between, on the one hand, the EIAH and, on the other hand, a national promotional bank or institution, an international financing institution or an institution or a managing authority, including those acting as a national advisor, having expertise relevant for the purposes of the EIAH, may take the form of a contractual partnership. The EIAH shall make at least one cooperation agreement with a national promotional bank or any other institution per Member State. In Member States where such an institution does not exist, the EIAH shall provide pro-active advisory support on its establishment, when requested by the Member State in question.;
Amendment 463 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 1 – paragraph 1 – point 12
Article 1 – paragraph 1 – point 12
Regulation (EU) No 2015/1017
Article 22 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 3
Article 22 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 3
In their financing and investment operations covered by this Regulation, the EIB and the EIF shall not make use of or engage in tax avoidance structures, in particular aggressive tax planning schemes, or practices not complying with EU tax good governance principles, as set out in the Union legislation, including Commission recommendations and communications.