22 Amendments of Notis MARIAS related to 2016/2064(INI)
Amendment 2 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
Amendment 4 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Believes that the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), which is used to finance risky and innovative projects, canmust be used as a tool to boost EU growth and promote the development of strong, sustainable and competitive industry, especially in southern European countries such as Greece, Spain and Portugal;
Amendment 9 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Acknowledges the initial results of the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) to mobilise private investments; rRecalls that the EFSI must also contribute to economic, social and territorial cohesion and that efforts are needed to enhance synergies and complementarity between the EFSI and European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIFs); underlines the importance of ensuring additionality of the EFSI with respect to other EIB initiatives and EU- funded programs;
Amendment 16 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Points out that only 13% of SMEs trade outside the EU; takes the view that the EFSI should give priority to the internationalisation ofeconomic support for SMEs and strengthen the role of the European Investment Advisory Hub (EIAH) by giving it an export aid mission;
Amendment 16 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Urges that EFSI ensure greater additionality for its projects in relation to normal EIB activities; underlines the fact that EFSI should support strategic investments related to projects that cannot obtain funding because of market failures, suboptimal investment situations or high levels of risk; recalls, furthermore, that when determining the criteria for use of the EU guarantee, EFSI should consider not only the profitability factor, but also the positive effects in terms of growth, job creation and cohesion factors;
Amendment 17 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. NotStresses that the EFSI aims at leveraging through the EIB a total of EUR 315 billion in extra investment and new projects in the real economy by 2018;
Amendment 20 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Notes with interest the proposal Commission President Juncker made during his 2016 State of the Union address to give the EFSI an external element in order to mobilise between EUR 44 and 88 billion in investments in Africa and the Neighbourhood; expects the EFSI to be stepped up also in EU Member States adversely affected by Troika austerity policies with a view to strengthening SMEs in those countries; stresses that these investments should not take the place of existing investments, must comply with the additionality principle in respect to projects that are already being financed and should be targeted towards risky and, where possible, small-scale projects;
Amendment 23 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. UnderlinStresses that more transparency and publicity on the criteria of major EFSI projects are required in order to increase the trust and attractiveness of markets for the EFSI as an efficient funding tool;
Amendment 25 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Stresses that, while the SMEs window of the EFSI represented a good opportunity for start-ups, SMEs and mid- caps, there is a lack of big investment; emphasises, therefore, the need to improve the financing of infrastructure and innovation projects in Member States such as Greece and to boost investments, which have been eroded by falling wages and pensions and consequently lower purchasing power on the Greek market;
Amendment 31 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. WelcomNotes the publication of the Commission’s new guidelines of 22 of February 2016 on combining ESIFs and the EFSI; takes note, however, that the number of existing synergies between EFSI and ESIFs funds is still extremely low and calls on the Commission, the EIB, the national promotional banks and institutions (NPBI) and the managing authorities to accelerate the design and implementation of further synergies;
Amendment 37 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. NotStresses that the geographical distribution of projects has been hitherto uneven; recalls that for the benefit of cohesion and sustainability objectives, the widest possible geographical spread should be considered in implementing the EFSI pipeline, taking into account the potential of sparsely populated areas in the EU;
Amendment 37 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Calls for better coordination between EFSI and other EU funds, in particular the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIFs), so as to promote stronger cohesion in Europe and ensure that EFSI has wide geographical coverage, particularly in southern European countries such as Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain; calls, also, for closer cooperation with national promotional banks, local and regional authorities and relevant stakeholders, including further encouragement to establish investment platforms to aggregate sectorial and geographical investment opportunities;
Amendment 38 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Considers that the Commission, the EIB, the Committee of the Regions, and the managing authorities should better cooperate to ensure that more integrated ESIF-EFSI projects are put forward to boost territorial development and cohesion policies; at the same time there must be an increase in the financing of infrastructure and innovation projects in Member States such as Greece and in investments, which have been eroded by falling wages and pensions;
Amendment 43 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. AskUrges the EIB to correct the current geographical imbalances and sectoral concentration of the EFSI portfolio, namely under the Infrastructure and Innovation Window (IIW) and the Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Window (SMEW), by enhancing its advisory activities for project design in Member States and technical assistance through the European Investment Advisory Hub (EIAH), including the possibility of increasing its budget when justified;
Amendment 47 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Calls onAsks the EIB to simplify the application process and stresses the need to strengthen the visibility of, interest in and awareness about the EFSI, especially for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises in the Member States;
Amendment 48 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Considers that EFSI is instrumental in completing and restructuring the Single Market; underlines, in this light, the importance of strengthening the third pillar of the ‘Investment Plan for Europe’, alsoStresses that, under the Junker plan, the European Fund for Strategic Investments expects within three years to inject an additional investment of EUR 315 billion into the econtext of the European Semester process, in order to make the EU regulatory environment more certain, homogeneomy, 42 investment projects having already been submitted for Greece; points out, however, that only two such projects, the ProCredit grousp and favourable to investments by focusing especially on strategic objectives such as completion of the Single Market and the development of a well-functioning Digitathe Creta Farm undertaking have actually materialised; considers therefore that that the EFSI should invest immediately in the real economy and implement all Single Market, and on key actions that support these objectivesvestment projects approved by the European Investment Bank under the Junker plan;
Amendment 53 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Considers that it is essential to ensure a geographical balance of EFSI projects, taking account of the different economic devehuge disparities between North and South, in particular as regards economic growth and unemplopyment of the regionsrates, and the territorial diversity of the Member States; highlights the importance of also developing cross-border projects that could deliver a high European added value;
Amendment 61 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. WelcomesExpects fulfilment of the recent Commission proposal to extend EFSI beyond 2018 and to reinforce it in order to overcome the current investment gap in Europe and continue to mobilise private sector capital, these being crucial steps to ensure sustainable growth, competitiveness, quality job creation, measures to assist small and medium- sized enterprises and social and territorial cohesion in Europe.
Amendment 62 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 26
Paragraph 26
26. BelievStresses that transparency and tax provisions should be increased and reinforced, in particular as regards the provision on tax avoidance;
Amendment 68 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Considers that there is a need to develop the thematic concbegin the implementration of EFSI projects related to cohesion policy;
Amendment 75 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Believes that the selection of EFSI financing operations and the managing of projects should be more transparent, accountable, based on defined criteria and involve local and regional stakeholders at an early stage and with particular emphasis on Southern European countries such as Greece, Portugal, Italy and Spain; stresses that the European Investment Advisory Hub (EIAH) and the EFSI investment committee should use the expertise of regional authorities in order to promote integrated ESIF-EFSI projects; with a view to this, the EIAH should play an active role in enabling even more local and regional authorities to make the most of the EFSI;
Amendment 94 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Recalls that Parliament must play a fundamental role in monitoring the impact ofimplementing these strategies and projects in terms ofwith the aim of boosting employment and sustainable and economic growth.