100 Amendments of Eva KAILI related to 2018/0229(COD)
Amendment 49 #
(1) With 1.8% of EU GDP, down from 2.2% in 2009, infrastructure investment activities in the Union in 2016 were about 20% below investment rates before the global financial crisis. Thus, while a recovery in investment-to-GDP ratios in the Union can be observed, it remains below what might be expected in a strong recovery period and is insufficient to compensate years of underinvestment. More importantly, the current investment levels and forecasts do not cover the Union’s structural investment needs for sustaining a long-term growth rate based on the constant improvement of the Union's total factor productivity (TFP) in the face of technological change and global competitiveness, including for innovation, skills, infrastructure, small and medium- sized enterprises ('SMEs') and the need to address key societal challenges such as sustainability or population ageing. Consequently, continued support is necessary to address market failures and sub-optimal investment situations to reduce the investment gap in targeted sectors to achieve the Union's policy objectives.
Amendment 52 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 2
Recital 2
(2) Evaluations have underlined that the variety of financial instruments delivered under the 2014-2020 Multiannual Financial Framework period has led to some overlaps and unclear processes for the blending of the European Structural Investment Funds with the market instruments developed by the Union. That variety has also produced complexity for intermediaries and final recipients who were confronted with different eligibility and reporting rules. Absence of compatible rules also hampered the combination of several Union funds although such combination would have been beneficial to support projects in need of different types of funding. Therefore, a single fund, the InvestEU Fund, should be set up in order to achieve additionality, a more efficiently functioning support to final recipients by integrating and simplifying the financial offer under a single budgetary guarantee scheme, thereby improving the impact of Union intervention while reducing the cost to the Union budget.
Amendment 63 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 5 a (new)
Recital 5 a (new)
(5a) Access to finance remains an essential issue for companies in the cultural and creative sector. To further develop this highly innovation sector, the dedicated guarantee facility created in Creative Europe will be continued under InvestEU as it has showed to successfully strengthen the financial capacity and competitiveness of cultural and creative sectors companies.
Amendment 65 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 5 c (new)
Recital 5 c (new)
(5c) Cultural and creative sectors are one of the most resilient and fastest growing sectors of the European economy, which generate economic and cultural value from intellectual property and individual creativity. However, the intangible nature of their assets limits their access to private financing. Thus, one of the greatest challenges for the sectors is to increase their access to finance, which is essential to invest, scale- up and compete at the international level. Therefore the InvestEU Programme should facilitate access to finance for SMEs and organisations from cultural and creative sectors.
Amendment 66 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 6
Recital 6
(6) The InvestEU Fund should support investments in tangible and intangible assets to foster growth, investment and employmentsustainable growth based on incremental total factor productivity rates, low cost investment and good quality of jobs, and thereby contributing to improved well-being and fairer income distribution in the Union. Intervention through the InvestEU Fund should complement and not replace Union support delivered through grants.
Amendment 74 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 9
Recital 9
(9) Reflecting the importance of tackling climate change in line with the Union's commitments to implement the Paris Agreement and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, the InvestEU Programme will contribute to mainstream climate actions and to the achievement of an overall target of 25 % of the Union budget expenditures supporting climate objectives. At least 30% of the overall financial envelope of the Invest EU is expected to contribute to climate objectives. Actions under the InvestEU Programme are expected to contribute 30 % of the overall financial envelope of the InvestEU Programme to climate objectives. Relevant actions will be identified during the InvestEU Programme's preparation and implementation and reassessed in the context of the relevant evaluations and review processes.
Amendment 86 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 13
Recital 13
(13) Low infrastructure investment rates in the Union during the financial crisis undermined the Union's ability to boost sustainable growth, competitiveness and convergence. The relative weakness of the Infrastructure and Innovation Window under EFSI indicates the low demand side of the market to invest in infrastructures, especially cross-border infrastructures, despite the availability of supply-side investment instruments. Sizeable investments in the European infrastructure are fundamental to meet the Union's sustainability targets, including the 2030 energy and climate targets. Accordingly, support from the InvestEU Fund should target investments into transport, energy, including energy efficiency and renewable energy, environmental, climate action, maritime and digital infrastructure. To maximise the impact and the value added of Union financing support, it is appropriate to promote a streamlined investment process enabling visibility of the project pipeline and consistency across relevant Union programmes. Bearing in mind security threats, investment projects receiving Union support should take into account principles for the protection of citizens in public spaces. This should be complementary to the efforts made by other Union funds such as the European Regional Development Fund providing support for security components of investments in public spaces, transport, energy and other critical infrastructure.
Amendment 98 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 15
Recital 15
(15) A significant effort is urgently needed to invest in digital transformation and to distribute the benefits of it to all Union citizens and businesses. The strong policy framework of the Digital Single Market Strategy should now be matched by investment of a similar ambition, including in artificial intelligence, machine learning, blockchain, Internet of things, and biotechnology inter alia. In this line, Fintech innovation can improved the efficiency of capital allocation and the exploration of crowdfunding and token- based instruments can mobilize significant volumes of idle capital to highly risky entrepreneurial ventures. The combination of the proceedings of those capital accumulation instruments with InvestEU is desirable subject to the improvement of legal certainty of these innovative instruments in the context of the Capital Markets Union.
Amendment 105 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 16
Recital 16
(16) Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) play a crucial role in the Union as the main factor of producing jobs and growth, in a level close to 98% of the overall growth rates of the Union. However, they face challenges when accessing finance because of their perceived high risk and lack of sufficient collateral. Additional challenges arise from SMEs' need to stay competitive by engaging in digitisation, internationalisation and innovation activities and skilling up their workforce. Moreover, compared to larger enterprises, they have access to a more limited set of financing sources: they typically do not issue bonds, have only limited access to stock exchanges or large institutional investors. The lack of access to capital is also weakened by the small private equity industry in Europe. The challenge in accessing finance is even greater for those SMEs whose activities focus on intangible assets. SMEs in the Union rely heavily on banks and debt financing in the form of bank overdrafts, bank loans or leasing. Supporting SMEs that face the above challenges and providing more diversified sources of funding is necessary for increasing the ability of SMEs to finance their creation, growth and development, withstand economic downturns, and for making the economy and the financial system more resilient during economic downturn or shocks. This is also complementary to the initiatives already undertaken in the context of the Capital Markets Union. The InvestEU Fund should provide an opportunity to focus on specific, more targeted financial products.
Amendment 132 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 23
Recital 23
(23) The EU guarantee of EUR 38 000 000 000 (current prices) at Union level is expected along with EUR 9 500 000 from financial partners to mobilise more thanat least EUR 650 000 000 000 of additional investment across the Union and should be indicatively allocated between the policy windows. This target, though implies a multiplier of 13.7 which is below the multiplier of 15 projected in EFSI. The spirit of InvestEU is to achieve a more ambitious multiplier than 13.7.
Amendment 136 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 24 a (new)
Recital 24 a (new)
(24a) A Steering Board with an executive role to make decisions according to Article 17 of this Regulation comprised by four members appointed by the European Commission, two experts appointed by the European Parliament, two members of the European Investment Bank Group. All the members comprising the Steering Board are voting members. The Steering Board shall make its decisions with consensus;
Amendment 137 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 25
Recital 25
(25) An Advisory Board consisting of representatives of the implementing partners and of representatives of Member States along with representatives from relevant Committees of the European Parliament should be established in order to exchange information and for exchanges on the take-up of the financial products deployed under the InvestEU Fund and to discuss on evolving needs and new products, including specific territorial market gaps.
Amendment 143 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 1
Recital 1
(1) With 1.8% of EU GDP, down from 2.2% in 2009, infrastructure investment activities in the Union in 2016 were about 20% below investment rates before the global financial crisis. Thus, while a recovery in investment-to-GDP ratios in the Union can be observed, it remains below what might be expected in a strong recovery period and is insufficient to compensate years of underinvestment. More importantly, the current investment levels and forecasts do not cover the Union’s structural investment needs for sustaining a long-term growth rate based on the constant improvement of the Union's Total Factor Productivity (TFP) in the face of technological change and global competitiveness, including for innovation, skills, infrastructure, small and medium- sized enterprises ('SMEs') and the need to address key societal challenges such as sustainability or population ageing. Consequently, continued support is necessary to address market failures and sub-optimal investment situations to reduce the investment gap in targeted sectors to achieve the Union's policy objectives.
Amendment 144 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 27
Recital 27
Amendment 149 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 2
Recital 2
(2) Evaluations have underlined that the variety of financial instruments delivered under the 2014-2020 Multiannual Financial Framework period has led to some overlaps and unclear processes for the blending of the European Structural Investment Funds with the market instrument developed by the Union, e.g. EFSI.. That variety has also produced complexity for intermediaries and final recipients who were confronted with different eligibility and reporting rules. Absence of compatible rules also hampered the combination of several Union funds although such combination would have been beneficial to support projects in need of different types of funding. Therefore, a single fund, the InvestEU Fund, should be set up in order to achieve additionality, a more efficiently functioning support to final recipients by integrating and simplifying the financial offer under a single budgetary guarantee scheme, thereby improving the impact of Union intervention while reducing the cost to the Union budget.
Amendment 154 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 3
Recital 3
(3) In the last years, the Union has adopted ambitious strategies to complete the Single Market and to stimulate sustainable growth andand inclusive growth as well as jobs, such as the Capital Markets Union, the Digital Single Market Strategy, the European Agenda for Culture, the Clean Energy for all Europeans package, the Union Action Plan for the Circular Economy, the Low- Emission Mobility Strategy, the Defence and the Space Strategy for Europe and the European Pillar of Social Rights. The InvestEU Fund should exploit and reinforce synergies between those mutually reinforcing strategies through providing support to investment and access to financing.
Amendment 155 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 31
Recital 31
(31) The EU guarantee under the Member State compartment should be allocated to any implementing partner eligible according to [Article 62(1)(c)] of the [Financial Regulation], including national or regional promotional banks or institutions, the EIB, the European Investment Fund and other multilateral development banks. Where the deployment of the Member state compartment is to target policy actions already addressed by the EU compartment through similar financing and investment operations, the Member State compartment and the EU compartment shall have the same implementing partners. When selecting implementing partners under the Member State compartment, the Commission should take into account the proposals made by each Member State. In accordance with [Article 154] of the [Financial Regulation], the Commission must carry out an assessment of the rules and procedures of the implementing partner to ascertain that they provide a level of protection of the financial interest of the Union equivalent to the one provided by the Commission.
Amendment 159 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 32
Recital 32
(32) Financing and investment operations should ultimately be decided by an implementing partner in its own name, implemented in accordance with its internal rules and procedures and accounted for in its own financial statements. Therefore, the Commission should exclusively account for any financial liability arising from the EU guarantee and disclose the maximum guarantee amount, including all relevant information on the guarantee provided.
Amendment 167 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 5
Recital 5
(5) The InvestEU Fund should contribute to improving the competitiveness of the Union, including in the field of innovation and digitisation, the sustainability of the Union's economic growth, the social resilience and inclusiveness and the integration of the Union capital markets, including solutions addressing their fragmentation and diversifying sources of financing for the Union enterprises. To that end, it should support projects that are technically and economically viable by providing a framework for the use of debt, risk sharing and equity instruments underpinned by a guarantee from the Union's budget and by contributions from implementing partners as relevant. It should be demand-driven while support under the InvestEU Fund should at the same time focus on contributing to meeting policy objectives of the Union.
Amendment 172 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 6
Recital 6
(6) The InvestEU Fund should support investments in tangible and intangible assets to foster growth, investment and employmentsustainable and inclusive growth based on an increasing total factor productivity rates, low cost investment and good quality of jobs, and thereby contributing to improved well-being and fairer income distribution and economic, social and territorial cohesion in the Union. Intervention through the InvestEU Fund should complement and not replacement of Union support delivered through grants.
Amendment 174 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 4 a (new)
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 4 a (new)
(4a) ‘investment platforms’ means special purpose vehicles, managed accounts, contract-based co-financing or risk-sharing arrangements or arrangements established by any other means by which entities channel a financial contribution in order to finance a number of investment projects, and which may include: (a) national or sub-national platforms that group together several investment projects on the territory of a given Member State; (b) multi-country or regional platforms that group together partners from several Member States or third countries interested in projects in a given geographic area; (c) thematic platforms that group together investment projects in a given sector;
Amendment 180 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 17 a (new)
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 17 a (new)
(17a) 'EIB' means the European Investment Bank, the European Investment Fund or any subsidiary of the European Investment Bank;
Amendment 188 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 9
Recital 9
(9) Reflecting the importance of tackling climate change in line with the Union's commitments to implement the Paris Agreement and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, the InvestEU Programme will contribute to mainstream climate actions and to the achievement of an overall target of 2530 % of the Union budget expenditures supporting climate objectives. At least 30% of the overall financial envelop of the InvestEU is expected to contribute to climate objectives. Actions under the InvestEU Programme are expected to contribute 30 % of the overall financial envelope of the InvestEU Programme to climate objectives. Relevant actions will be identified during the InvestEU Programme's preparation and implementation and reassessed in the context of the relevant evaluations and review processes.
Amendment 198 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 11
Recital 11
(11) According to the 2018 Global Risks Report issued by the World Economic Forum, half of the ten most critical risks threatening the global economy relate to the environment. Such risks include air, soil and water pollution, extreme weather events, biodiversity losses and failures of climate-change mitigation and adaptation. Environmental principles are strongly embedded in the Treaties and many of the Union's policies. Therefore, the mainstreaming of environmental objectives should be promoted in the InvestEU Fund related operations. Environmental protection and related risk prevention and management including for events such as floods earthquakes, wildfires and other catastrophes, should be integrated in the preparation and implementation of investments. The EU should also track its biodiversity-related and air pollution control-related expenditure in order to fulfil the reporting obligations under the Convention on Biological Diversity and Directive (EU) 2016/2284 of the European Parliament and of the Council15 Investment allocated to environmentally sustainability objectives should therefore be tracked using common methodologies coherent with that developed under other Union programmes applying to climate, biodiversity and air pollution management in order to allow assessing the individual and combined impact of investments on the key components of the natural capital, including air, water, land and biodiversity. _________________ 15 Directive (EU) 2016/2284 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 December 2016 on the reduction of national emissions of certain atmospheric pollutants, amending Directive 2003/35/EC and repealing Directive 2001/81/EC (OJ L 344, 17.12.2016, p. 1).
Amendment 198 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 3 – paragraph 2 – point c
Article 3 – paragraph 2 – point c
(c) to increase the access to and the availability of finance for SMEs and, in duly justified cases, for smallinnovative start- ups, SMEs and for mid-cap companies;
Amendment 200 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 12
Recital 12
(12) Investment projects receiving substantial Union support, notably in the area of infrastructure, should be subject to sustainability proofing in accordance with guidanceinvestment guidelines that should be developed by the Commission in cooperation with implementing partners under the InvestEU Programme and, using in an appropriate way the criteria established by [Regulation on establishment of a framework to facilitate sustainable investment] for determining whether an economic activity is environmentally sustainable and coherently with the guidanceinvestment guidelines developed for other programmes of the Union. Such guidanceinvestment guidelines should include adequate provisions to avoid undue administrative burden.
Amendment 207 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 13
Recital 13
(13) Low infrastructure investment rates in the Union during the financial crisis undermined the Union's ability to boost sustainable growth, competitiveness and convergence. The relatively weak performance of the Infrastructure Window under EFSI indicates the low demand side of the market to invest in infrastructures, especially cross-border infrastructures, despite the availability of supply-side instruments. Sizeable investments in the European infrastructure are fundamental to meet the Union's sustainability targets, including the 2030 energy and climate targets. Accordingly, support from the InvestEU Fund should target investments into transport, energy, including energy efficiency and renewable energy, environmental, climate action, including renewable materials, maritime and digital infrastructure. To maximise the impact and the value added of Union financing support, it is appropriate to promote a streamlined investment process enabling visibility of the project pipeline and consistency across relevant Union programmes. Bearing in mind security threats, investment projects receiving Union support should take into account principles for the protection of citizens in public spaces. This should be complementary to the efforts made by other Union funds such as the European Regional Development Fund providing support for security components of investments in public spaces, transport, energy and other critical infrastructure.
Amendment 214 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 15
Recital 15
(15) A significant effort is urgently needed to invest in digital transformation and to distribute the benefits of it to all Union citizens and businesses. The strong policy framework of the Digital Single Market Strategy should now be matched by investment of a similar ambition, including in artificial intelligence, machine learning, DLT and blockchain technologies, Internet of Things and biotechnology inter alia. In this line Fintech innovation can improve the efficiency of capital allocation and the exploration of crowdfunding and token based financial instruments can mobilize significant volumes of idle capital to highly risky entrepreneurial ventures. The combination of those capital accumulation instruments with InvestEU is desirable, subject to the improvement of legal certainty of these innovative financial instruments in the context of the Capital Markets Union. The experience of the European Investment fund in blending crowdfunding-pooled capital with its own tools could be instrumental to this direction.
Amendment 219 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 16
Recital 16
(16) Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) play a crucial role inas they are the main factor for the creation of jobs and growth, in a level close to 98% of the overall growth rates of the Union. However, they face challenges when accessing finance because of their perceived high risk and lack of sufficient collateral. Additional challenges arise from SMEs' need to stay competitive by engaging in digitisation, internationalisation and innovation activities and skilling up their workforce. Moreover, compared to larger enterprises, they have access to a more limited set of financing sources: they typically do not issue bonds, have only limited access to stock exchanges or large institutional investors. The lack of access to capital is also intensified by the comparative weakness of the Private Equity and Venture Capital Industry in Europe. The challenge in accessing finance is even greater for those SMEs whose activities focus on intangible assets. SMEs in the Union rely heavily on banks and debt financing in the form of bank overdrafts, bank loans or leasing. Supporting SMEs that face the above challenges and providing more diversified sources of funding is necessary for increasing the ability of SMEs to finance their creation, growth and development, withstand economic downturns, and for making the economy and the financial system more resilient during economic downturn or shocks. This is also complementary to the initiatives already undertaken in the context of the Capital Markets Union. The InvestEU Fund should provide an opportunity to focus on specific, more targeted financial products.
Amendment 225 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 7 – paragraph 1 – point b
Article 7 – paragraph 1 – point b
(b) research, innovation and digitisation policy window: comprises research and innovation activities, transfer of research results to the market, demonstration and deployment of innovative solutions and support to scaling up of innovative companies other thfirms, including start-ups and SMEs as well as digitisation of Union industry;
Amendment 228 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 19
Recital 19
(19) Each policy window should be composed of two compartments, that is to say an EU compartment and a Member State compartment. The EUMember-State compartments should address Union-wideMember- state specific market failures orand sub- optimal investment situations in a proportionate manner; supported actions should have a clear European added value. The Member State compartment should give Member States the possibility to contribute a share of their resources of Funds under shared management to the provisioning of the EU guarantee to use the EU guarantee for financing or investment operations to address specific market failures or sub-optimal investment situations in their own territory, including in vulnerable and remote areas such as the outermost regions of the Union, to deliver objectives of the Fund under shared managementrelated to Union policy objectives. In addition it should be possible for the MS to contribute to the Member State compartment in the form of guarantees or cash. Actions supported from the InvestEU Fund through either EU or Member State compartments should not duplicate or crowd out private financing or distort competition in the internal market.
Amendment 233 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 7 – paragraph 1 – point c
Article 7 – paragraph 1 – point c
(c) SMEs policy window: access to and availability of finance for SMEs and, in duly justified cases, for smallstart-ups, SMEs and mid-cap companies;
Amendment 238 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 7 – paragraph 1 – point d
Article 7 – paragraph 1 – point d
(d) social investment and skills policy window: comprises microfinance, social enterprise finance and social economy; skills, education, training and related services; social infrastructure (including social and student housing); social innovation; health and long-term care; inclusion and accessibility; cultural activities in particular with a social goal; integration of vulnerable people, including third country nationals.
Amendment 242 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 23
Recital 23
(23) The EU guarantee for purposes of the EU compartment of EUR 38 000 000 000 (current prices) at Union level is expected along with EUR 9 500 000 from financial partners to mobilise more thanat least EUR 650 000 000 000 of additional investment across the Union and should be indicatively allocated between the policy windows. This target, though, implies a multiplier of 13.7 which is below the multiplier of 15.0 projected in EFSI. The spirit of the InvestEU is to achieve a multiplier more ambitious than 13.7.
Amendment 249 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 23 a (new)
Recital 23 a (new)
Amendment 253 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 7 – paragraph 4 a (new)
Article 7 – paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. The SMEs policy window shall further develop the different EU guarantee facilities merged under InvestEU, in particular the Cultural and Creative Sectors Guarantee Facility from the Creative Europe Programme.
Amendment 255 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 24
Recital 24
(24) The EU guarantee underpinning the InvestEU Fund should be implemented indirectly by the Commission relying on implementing partners with outreach to financial intermediaries and final recipients. A guarantee agreement allocating guarantee capacity from the InvestEU Fund should be concluded by the Commission with each implementing partner, to support its financing and investment operations meeting the InvestEU Fund objectives and eligibility criteria. The InvestEU Fund should be provided with a specific governance structure to ensure the appropriate use of the EU guarantee.
Amendment 262 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 24 a (new)
Recital 24 a (new)
(24a) A Steering Board with an executive role to make decisions according to Article 17 of this Regulation comprised by four members appointed by the European Commission, two experts appointed by the European Parliament and two members appointed by the EIB Group. All the members comprising the Steering Board are voting members. The Steering Board shall make its decisions with consensus.
Amendment 263 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 25
Recital 25
(25) An Advisory Board consisting of representatives of the implementing partners and of representatives of Member States along with representatives from relevant Committees of the European Parliament, should be established in order to exchange information and for exchanges on the take-up of the financial products deployed under the InvestEU Fund and to discuss on evolving needs and new products, including specific territorial market gaps.
Amendment 268 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 26
Recital 26
(26) The Commission should assess the compatibility of investment and financing operations submitted by the implementing partners with Union law and policies whereas the decisions on financSteering Board should set the strategic orientations of the InvestEU and the rules necessary for its functioning, and investment operations should ultimately be taken by an implementing partner.should set out the rules applicable to the operations with investment platforms;
Amendment 272 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 27
Recital 27
Amendment 284 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 29
Recital 29
(29) In selecting implementing partners for the deployment of the InvestEU Fund, the Commissrelevant considerations should consiincluder the counterpart's capacity to fulfil the objectives of the InvestEU Fund and to contribute its own resourcesto it, in order to ensure adequate geographical coverage and diversification, to crowd-in private investors and to provide sufficient risk diversification as well as new solutions to address market failures and sub-optimal investment situations. Given its role under the Treaties, its capacity to operate in all Member States and the existing experience under the current financial instruments and the EFSI, the European Investment Bank (‘EIB’) Group should remain a privileged implementing partner under the InvestEU Fund's EU compartmentbe responsible the InvestEU Advisory Hub and indirectly manage the EU guarantees for the EU compartment and the Member State compartment. The implementing partners will be as follows: (i) the EIB Group under the EIB window of the EU compartment, (ii) the National Promotional Banks with whom a guarantee agreement is signed under NPB window of the EU compartment, (iii) the eligible counterpart such as a financial institution or other intermediary with whom a guarantee agreement is signed under the Member state compartment and (iv) the EIB under the InvestEU Advisory hub. In line with its role in the treaties, EIB will provide all strategic banking and risk management competences for the commission and other implementing partners. In addition to the EIB Group, national, regional or local promotional banks or institutions should be able to offer a complementary financial product range given that their experience and capabilities at regional level could be beneficial for the maximisation of the impact of public funds on the territory of the Union. Moreover, it should be possible to have other international financial institutions as implementing partners, in particular whenunder the Member state compartment, provided they present a comparative advantage in terms of specific expertise and experience in certain Member States. It should also be possible for other entities fulfilling the criteria laid down in the Financial Regulation to act as implementing partners.
Amendment 285 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 10 – paragraph 2
Article 10 – paragraph 2
2. Support of the EU guarantee may be granted for financing and investment operations covered by this Regulation for an investment period ending on 31 December 2027. Contracts between the implementing partner and the final recipient or the financial intermediary or other entity referred to in Article 13(1)(a) shall be signed by 31 December 2028. For avoidance of doubt, such dates shall not apply for operations conducted between financial intermediaries and final recipients.
Amendment 288 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 10 – paragraph 2 a (new)
Article 10 – paragraph 2 a (new)
2a. When the implementing partner calls on the EU guarantee in accordance with a guarantee agreement or the InvestEU agreement, the Union shall pay on demand in accordance with the terms of that agreement;
Amendment 302 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 31
Recital 31
(31) The EU guarantee under the Member State compartment should be allocated to any implementing partner eligible according to [Article 62(1)(c)] of the [Financial Regulation], including national or regional promotional banks or institutions, the EIB, the European Investment Fund and other multilateral development banks. Where the deployment of the Member State compartment is to target policy actions already addressed by the EU compartment through similar financing and investment operations, the Member State compartment and the EU compartment shall have the same implementing partners. When selecting implementing partners under the Member State compartment, the Commission should take into account the proposals made by each Member State. In accordance with [Article 154] of the [Financial Regulation], the Commission must carry out an assessment of the rules and procedures of the implementing partner to ascertain that they provide a level of protection of the financial interest of the Union equivalent to the one provided by the Commission.
Amendment 304 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 32
Recital 32
(32) Financing and investment operations should ultimately be decided by an implementing partner in its own name, implemented in accordance with its internal rules and procedures and accounted for in its own financial statements. Therefore, the Commission should exclusively account for any financial liability arising from the EU guarantee and disclose the maximum guarantee amount, including all relevant information on the guarantee provided.
Amendment 305 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 12 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 4 a (new)
Article 12 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 4 a (new)
Where the deployment of the Member State compartment is to target policy actions already addressed by the EU compartment through similar financing and investment operations, the Member state compartment and the EU compartment shall have the same implementing partners.
Amendment 315 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 14 – paragraph 2 – point d
Article 14 – paragraph 2 – point d
(d) the remuneration for risk-taking that is to be allocated of the Union and the implementing proportion toartner, taking into account the respective shares in the risk-taking of the Union and the implementing partnerand the capacity of the final beneficiaries of covering of costs related to the implementation of financing and investment operations under the EU guarantee;
Amendment 319 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 16 – paragraph 1
Article 16 – paragraph 1
1. The remuneration for risk-taking shall be allocatgreed between the Union and an implementing partner in proportion to their respective share in the risk-taking offor a portfolio of financing and investment operations or, where relevant, of individual operations. The implementing partner shall have an appropriate exposure at its own risk to financing and investment operations supported by the EU guarantee, unless exceptionally the policy objectives targeted by the financial product to be implemented are of such nature that the implementing partner could not reasonably contribute its own risk-bearing capacity to it.
Amendment 321 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 17 – paragraph 1
Article 17 – paragraph 1
1. The Commission shall be advised by an advisory board which shall have two configurations, namely representatives of implementing partners and, representatives of Member States. and Members of the alternative Committees of the European Parliament.
Amendment 324 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 17 – paragraph 2 a (new)
Article 17 – paragraph 2 a (new)
2a. Members of the European Parliament appointed by the related Committees shall have a tenure of two and a half year.
Amendment 329 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 17 a (new)
Article 17 a (new)
Article 17a Steering Board The Steering Board is comprised by eight (8) members: four appointed by the European Commission, two experts appointed by the Members of the European Parliament and two members appointed by the European Investment Bank. All the members of the Steering Board have voting rights. The decisions of the Steering Board should be taken with consensus and according to the provisions of this Regulation. The minutes of the Steering Board shall be published as they have been approved by the Steering Board The Steering Board shall regularly organize a consultation of relevant stakeholders, including co-investors, public authorities, experts, educational and research institutions, social partners and representatives of the civil society, on the orientation and implementation of the investment policy of the InvestEU.
Amendment 332 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 4 a (new)
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 4 a (new)
(4a) 'Investment platforms' means special purpose vehicles, managed accounts, contract-based co-financing or risk-sharing arrangements or arrangement established by any other means, by which entities channel a financing contribution in order to finance a number of investment projects, and which may include: (a) national or sub-national platforms that group together several investment projects on the territory of a given Member state; (b) multi-country or regional platforms that group together partners from different Member States, including from third countries, interested in projects in a given geographic area; (c) thematic platforms that group together investment projects in a given sector;
Amendment 332 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 18
Article 18
Amendment 338 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 7
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 7
(7) 'implementing partner' means the (i) the EIB Group under the EIB window of the EU compartment, (ii) the National Promotional Banks or Institutions (NPBIs) and other eligible implementing partners with whom a guarantee agreement is signed under the NPBI window of the EU compartment or (iii) eligible counterpart such as a financial institution or other intermediary with whom the Commission signs a guarantee agreement and/or an agreement to implement the InvestEU Advisory Hubis signed under the Member State compartment;
Amendment 343 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 7 a (new)
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 7 a (new)
(7a) 'EIB' means the European Investment Bank, the European Investment Fund or any subsidiary of the European Investment Bank;
Amendment 344 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 7 b (new)
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 7 b (new)
(7b) 'Advisory Hub Partner' means the eligible counterpart with whom the Commission or the EIB as manager of the InvestEU Advisory Hub signs an agreement to implement a service provided by the InvestEU Advisory Hub;
Amendment 347 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 19 – paragraph 5 – subparagraph 3
Article 19 – paragraph 5 – subparagraph 3
The scoreboard shall be publicly available after the signature of a financing or investment operation or sub-project, if applicable. The publication shall not contain commercially sensitive information or personal data not to be disclosed under the Union data protection rules. A rate of the projects rejected over the projects accepted per Member State should be included annually. A justification of acceptance or rejection should be provided for every project.
Amendment 349 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 19 – paragraph 6 a (new)
Article 19 – paragraph 6 a (new)
6a. The workings of the Investment Committees shall start only after full appointment of their members and without interim contract. For example, if the call of tender for the members of the Investment Committees is for three years, the contract signed by the members of the Investment Committee should not be shorter than three years.
Amendment 354 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 20 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 2 a (new)
Article 20 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 2 a (new)
The Advisory Hub will built on the experience gathered already from the European Investments Advisory Hub run by EFSI; It shall function under the responsibilities, coordination and direction of the European Investment Bank Group but it will have local reference, or even premises, especially in areas that are unable to use the InvestEU instrument;
Amendment 356 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 20 – paragraph 2 – point b
Article 20 – paragraph 2 – point b
(b) assisting project promoters, where appropriate, in developing their projects to fulfil the objectives and eligibility criteria set out in Articles 3, 7 and 11 and facilitating development of aggregators for small-scale projects, as well as will assist in the formation of thematic and regional investment platforms by providing legal assistance and an appropriate template of an investment platform agreement; however, such assistance does not prejudge the conclusions of the Investment Committee on the coverage of the support of the EU guarantee to such projects;
Amendment 368 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 21 – paragraph 1
Article 21 – paragraph 1
1. The InvestEU Portal shall be established by the Commission. It shall be an easily accessible and user-friendly project database, providing relevant information for each project in every official language of the EU.
Amendment 369 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 22 – paragraph 1 a (new)
Article 22 – paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. Building on the experience of EFSI, one method of success calculation is often controversial. The Commission shall identify alternative methods of performance calculation, combining alternative macroeconomic and market measures, and publish the outcome of those methods in a semi-annual basis;
Amendment 378 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 3 – paragraph 2 – point c
Article 3 – paragraph 2 – point c
(c) to increase the access to and the availability of finance for innovative start- ups, SMEs and, in duly justified cases, for small mid-cap companies;
Amendment 411 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 7 – paragraph 1 – point b
Article 7 – paragraph 1 – point b
(b) research, innovation and digitisation policy window: comprises research and innovation activities, transfer of research results to the market, demonstration and deployment of innovative solutions and support to scaling up of innovative companies other thfirms, including start-ups and SMEs as well as digitisation of Union industry based on the experiences gained under the Horizon2020, and in particular InnovFin;
Amendment 415 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 7 – paragraph 1 – point c
Article 7 – paragraph 1 – point c
(c) SMEs policy window: access to and availability of finance for SMEs and, in duly justified cases, for smallstart-ups, SMEs and mid-cap companies;
Amendment 420 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 7 – paragraph 1 – point d
Article 7 – paragraph 1 – point d
(d) social investment and skills policy window: comprises microfinance, social enterprise finance and social economy; skills, education, training and related services; social infrastructure (including social and student housing); social innovation; health and long-term care; inclusion and accessibility; cultural activities in particular with a social goal; integration of vulnerable people, including third country nationals.
Amendment 447 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 7 a (new)
Article 7 a (new)
Amendment 452 #
Proposal for a regulation
Annex II – paragraph 1 – point 8
Annex II – paragraph 1 – point 8
8. Cultural and creative sectors; media, augaming industry; fashion industry; medioa-visual sector and journalism; European Cultural Heritage Cloud.
Amendment 459 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 8 – paragraph 1 – point a – introductory part
Article 8 – paragraph 1 – point a – introductory part
(a) the EU cCompartment shall consist of two investment windows, the EIB window and the NPBI window and shall address any of the following situations:
Amendment 503 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 10 – paragraph 1 a (new)
Article 10 – paragraph 1 a (new)
Amendment 511 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 10 – paragraph 1 b (new)
Article 10 – paragraph 1 b (new)
1b. The EU guarantee under the EU compartment shall be allocated to implementing partners. at least 75% of the EU guarantee under the EU compartment shall be allocated to the EIB. Amounts exceeding 75% of the EU guarantee may be made available to the EIB in the event that NPBIs cannot fully use the remaining share of the guarantee. In addition to having the possibility to benefiting from dedicated EIB products developed for them under EFSI, NPBIs may fully benefit from the EU guarantee also in case they decide to access to it through the EIB or the EIF.
Amendment 514 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 10 – paragraph 2
Article 10 – paragraph 2
2. Support of the EU guarantee may be granted for financing and investment operations covered by this Regulation for an investment period ending on 31 December 2027. Guarantee agreements between the EIB and implementing partners , where applicable, shall be approved by 31 December 2027. Contracts between the implementing partner and the final recipient or the financial intermediary or other entity referred to in Article 13(1)(a) shall be signapproved by 31 December 2028. For avoidance of doubt, such dates shall not apply for operations conducted between financial intermediaries and final recipients. 3. Where an implementing partner calls on the EU guarantee in accordance with a guarantee agreement or the InvestEU agreement, the Union shall pay on demand in accordance with the terms of the agreement.
Amendment 516 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 10 – paragraph 2 a (new)
Article 10 – paragraph 2 a (new)
2a. When the implementing partner calls on the EU guarantee in accordance with a guarantee agreement or the InvestEU agreement, the Union shall pay on demand in accordance with the terms of that agreement;
Amendment 517 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 10 a (new)
Article 10 a (new)
Amendment 531 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 11 – paragraph 3 a (new)
Article 11 – paragraph 3 a (new)
3a. In addressing the problem of the diverse interest rates among the Member States that result to diverse funding costs due to the different financial and fiscal conditions as well as diverse investment risks, the EIB should have the discretion to reconsider ad hoc the required minimum of 10% of the CAPEX that the project initiator should contribute by his own resources. This policy should be implemented by EIB as an instrument that neutralizes the effects of fiscal rigidities that may exist in a Member State or in a region, and create financial and liquidity frictions that undermine the demand side of the InvestEU loanable funds. Supply side instruments like InvestEU deliver better results in fiscally neutral environments. EIB shall provide a framework and general rules that will allow it to deviate from the 10% minimum policy to finance important projects with high additionality in Member states and regions characterized by additional financial risk.
Amendment 545 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 12 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 4 a (new)
Article 12 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 4 a (new)
Where the deployment of the Member State compartment is to target policy actions already addressed by the EU compartment through similar financing and investment operations, the Member State compartment, and the EU compartment shall have the same implementing partners;
Amendment 560 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 14 – paragraph 2 – point d
Article 14 – paragraph 2 – point d
(d) the remuneration for risk-taking that is to be allocated in proportion to the respective share in the risk-taking of the Union and the implementing partner, taking into account the respective shares in the risk-taking and the capacity of the final beneficiaries of covering of costs related to the implementation of financing and investment operations under the EU guarantee;
Amendment 564 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 16 – paragraph 1
Article 16 – paragraph 1
1. The remuneration for risk-taking shall be allocatgreed between the Union and an implementing partner in proportion to their respective share in the risk-taking of a portfolio of financing and investment operations or, where relevant, of individual operations. The implementing partner shall have an appropriate exposure at its own risk to financing and investment operations supported by the EU guarantee, unless exceptionally the policy objectives targeted by the financial product to be implemented are of such nature that the implementing partner could not reasonably contribute its own risk-bearing capacity to it.
Amendment 575 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 17 – paragraph 1
Article 17 – paragraph 1
1. The Commission shall be advised by an advisory board which shall have two configurations, namely representatives of implementing partners and, representatives of Member States. and Members of the related Committees of the European Parliament;
Amendment 579 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 17 – paragraph 2 a (new)
Article 17 – paragraph 2 a (new)
2a. Members of the European Parliament appointed by the related Committees shall have a tenure of two and a half year;
Amendment 593 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 17 a (new)
Article 17 a (new)
Article 17a Steering Board The Steering Board shall be comprised by eight members: four appointed by the European Commission, two experts appointed by the European Parliament, and two members appointed by the EIB Group. All the members of the Steering Board have voting rights. The decisions of the Steering Board should be made with consensus and according to the provisions of this regulation. The minutes of the Steering Board shall be published as they have been approved by the Steering Board. The Steering Board shall regularly organize consultation meetings with relevant stakeholders, including co- investors, public authorities, experts, educational and research institutes, social partners and representatives of the civil society, on the orientation and implementation of the investment policy of the InvestEU.
Amendment 597 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 17 b (new)
Article 17 b (new)
Amendment 599 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 17 c (new)
Article 17 c (new)
Article 17c Risk Assessment Methodology 1. The Commission in cooperation with the EIB Group shall supplement this Regulation by establishing a risk assessment methodology. Such risk assessment methodology shall include: (a) a risk rating classification, to ensure consistent and standard treatment of all operations independent from the intermediary institution; (b) a methodology to assess the value at risk and the probability of default based on clear statistical methods, including environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria; (c) a method to assess exposure at default and loss given default, taking into account the value of financing, the project risk, the repayment terms, the collateral, and other relevant indicators.
Amendment 603 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 18
Article 18
Amendment 659 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 19 – paragraph 3 – subparagraph 3
Article 19 – paragraph 3 – subparagraph 3
The CommissionSteering Board may remove a member from his or her functions if he or she does not respect the requirements laid down in this paragraph or for other duly justified reasons.
Amendment 661 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 19 – paragraph 3 – subparagraph 3 a (new)
Article 19 – paragraph 3 – subparagraph 3 a (new)
A secretariat shall be provided by the EIB to support the InvestEU Investment Committee the management of which shall be agreed in accordance with Article 19(2) of this Regulation.
Amendment 664 #
When acting in accordance with this Article, the Investment Committee shall be supported by the documentation provided by the implementing partners and any other document the Investment Committee considers relevant. Any project assessment conductscoreboard provided by an implementing partner shall not be binding on the Investment Committee for the purposes of a financing or investment operation benefiting from the coverage by the EU guarantee. The chairperson of the Investment Committee shall invite a representative of the relevant implementing partner to present its scoreboard and those representatives shall be available to respond to enquiries raised by members of the Investment Committee.
Amendment 677 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 19 – paragraph 5 – subparagraph 3
Article 19 – paragraph 5 – subparagraph 3
The scoreboard shall be publicly available after the signature of a financing or investment operation or sub-project, if applicable. The publication shall not contain commercially sensitive information or personal data not to be disclosed under the Union data protection rules. The rate of the projects rejected over the projects accepted per Member state should be included annually. A justification of acceptance or rejection should be provided for every project.
Amendment 682 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 19 – paragraph 6 a (new)
Article 19 – paragraph 6 a (new)
6a. The official work of the Investment Committees shall start its function only after the full appointment of their members and without any interim contract. For example, if the call of tender for the members of the Investment Committees is for three years, the contract signed by the members of the Investment Committees should not be shorter than three years.
Amendment 687 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 20 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 1 a (new)
Article 20 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 1 a (new)
The InvestEU Advisory Hub shall be managed by the EIB on behalf of and in close cooperation with the Commission;
Amendment 690 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 20 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 2 a (new)
Article 20 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 2 a (new)
The Advisory Hub will built on the experience gathered already from the EIAH of EFSI; It shall function under the responsibilities, coordination and direction of the EIB.
Amendment 692 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 20 – paragraph 2 – point b
Article 20 – paragraph 2 – point b
(b) assisting project promoters, where appropriate, in developing their projects to fulfil the objectives and eligibility criteria set out in Articles 3, 7 and 11 and facilitating development of aggregators for small-scale projects, as well as it will assist in the formation of investment platforms by providing legal assistance and when possible, a standardized template of an investment platform agreement;; however, such assistance does not prejudge the conclusions of the Investment Committee on the coverage of the support of the EU guarantee to such projects;
Amendment 707 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 20 – paragraph 6
Article 20 – paragraph 6
6. The InvestEU Advisory Hub shall have local presence, where necessary. It shall be established in particular in Member States or regions that face difficulties in developing projects under the InvestEU Fund. The InvestEU Advisory Hub shall assist in the transfer of knowledge to the regional and local level with a view to building up regional and local capacity and expertise for support referred to in paragraph 1 and to implement and accommodate such projects. The Commission or the EIB as manager of the InvestEU Advisory Hub shall sign separate agreements with the Advisory Hub partners where appropriate to formalise their contribution to the implementation of the InvestEU Advisory hub on the ground.
Amendment 710 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 21 – paragraph 1
Article 21 – paragraph 1
1. The InvestEU Portal shall be established by the Commission. It shall be an easily accessible and user-friendly project database, providing relevant information for each project in every official language of the EU.
Amendment 715 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 22 – paragraph 1 a (new)
Article 22 – paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. Building on the experience of EFSI the evaluation of InvestEU in one metric is often controversial. The Commission shall identify alternative methods of performance evaluation combining alternative macroeconomic and market measures, and publish the outcome of those methods in a semi- annual basis;
Amendment 719 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 22 – paragraph 5
Article 22 – paragraph 5
5. In addition, each implementing partner shall submit every six months a report to the European Parliament and the Commission on the financing and investment operations covered by this Regulation, broken down by the EU compartment and the Member State compartment by Member State, as appropriate. The report shall include an assessment of compliance with the requirements on the use of the EU guarantee and with the key performance indicators laid down in Annex III to this Regulation. The report shall also include operational, statistical, financial and accounting data on each financing and investment operation and at the compartment, policy window and the InvestEU Fund level. One of those reports shall contain the information the implementing partners shall provide in accordance with [Article 155(1)(a)] of the [Financial Regulation].
Amendment 728 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 23 – paragraph 2
Article 23 – paragraph 2
2. By 30 September 20254, the Commission shall carry out an interim evaluation on the InvestEU Programme, in particular on the use of the EU guarantee.
Amendment 735 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 23 – paragraph 3
Article 23 – paragraph 3
3. At the end of the implementation of the InvestEU Programme, but no later than fourtwo years after the end of the period specified in Article 1, the Commission shall carry out a final evaluation of the InvestEU Programme, in particular on the use of the EU guarantee.
Amendment 771 #
Proposal for a regulation
Annex II – paragraph 1 – point 1 – point c
Annex II – paragraph 1 – point 1 – point c
(c) development, smartening and modernisation of sustainable energy infrastructure, including peer to peer and decentralised distribution schemes (transmission and distribution level, storage technologies);