14 Amendments of Isabel BENJUMEA BENJUMEA related to 2023/0199(COD)
Amendment 36 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 2
Recital 2
(2) The EU industry has proven its inbuilt resilience but is being challenged. High inflation, labour shortages, post- COVID supply chains disruptions, rising interest rates, and spikes in energy costs and input prices are weighing on the competitiveness of the EU industry. This is paired with strong, but not always fair, competition on the fragmented global market. The EU has already put forward several initiatives to support its industry, such as the Green Deal Industrial Plan,40 the Critical Raw Materials Act41 , the Net Zero Industry Act42 , the new Temporary Crisis and Transition Framework for State aid,43 and the Recovery and Resilience Facility, as amended by REPowerEU. 44 . While these solutions provide fast and targeted support, the EU needs a more structural answer to the investment needs of its industries, safeguarding cohesion and the level playing field in the Single Market and to reduce the EU’s strategic dependencies. _________________ 40 Communication on A Green Deal Industrial Plan for the Net-Zero Age, COM(2023) 62 final. 41 COM(2023) 160 final 42 COM(2023) 161 final 43 Communication on a Temporary Crisis and Transition Framework for State Aid measures (OJ C 101, 17.3.2023, p. 3). 44 Regulation (EU) 2023/435 as regards REPowerEU (OJ L 63, 28.2.2023, p. 1).
Amendment 40 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 6 a (new)
Recital 6 a (new)
(6a) Considering that the European Commission, the Council and the European Parliament have made a swift response to the severe humanitarian, social and economic consequences of the different crisis that we have suffered throughout the last years (Covid-19, Russian invasion to Ukraine, the increase in energy prices, inflation, among others); whereas the response of the European institutions to these crisis have been the programs and aid funds that had as their main objective: the support to the people and sectors most affected, the reactivation of the economy, the fostering of competitiveness and job creation.
Amendment 42 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 6 b (new)
Recital 6 b (new)
(6b) Considering as a success of the Union, all the programs and funds created in the last years to confront the successive economic crisis: Recovery and Resilient Facility, ReactEU, Horizon Europe, Invest EU, CRII, CRII+, Just Transition Fund, REPowerEU, the bolstering of previous programs and the easing of mechanisms. Whereas the design of all these plans and aid funds will only reach success if they are implemented swiftly in order to reach the final recipients, and to those that really need it, such as households, middle classes, entrepreneurs or self-employed workers; hence, it is essential to avoid the existence of such amount of programs and aids that could create a deadlock in the Member States, the delay in the channelling of aids, the difficulties in implementing, and an excess in bureaucracy and administrative burden to companies and SMEs. It is thus necessary, the coordination among the various programs, the removal of administrative burdens, the training of competent Member States authorities (Technical Support Instrument), the mid- term reviews, the demand of transparency and the accountability. European Union’s success will not depend on the presentation of new programs, but in the effective implementation of them.
Amendment 43 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 6 c (new)
Recital 6 c (new)
(6c) While proposal for a Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform is nobel one, it is high time for the Union to effectively utilise and rise absorbtion rates of the existing Union’s programmes and funds instead of creating new ones for every challenge which comes across our way.
Amendment 46 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 10
Recital 10
(10) A new publicly available website (the ‘Sovereignty Portal’) should be set up by the Commission to provide information on available support tofor projects contributing to the STEP objectives. To address the needs of companies and project promoters seeking funds for STEP investments. To that end, itprojects, the Sovereignty Portal should display in an accessible and user-friendly manner the funding opportunities for STEP investments available under the EU budget. This should include information about the directly managed Union programmes, such as Horizon Europe, the Digital Europe programme, the EU4Health programme,, EU4Health, the European Defence Fund and the Innovation Fund, and also other programmes such as InvestEU, the RRFUnion funding sources, that is InvestEU, the Recovery and Resilience Facility, and cohesion policy funds. Moreover, the Sovereignty Portal should help increase the visibility for STEP investments towards investors, by listing the projects that have been awarded a Sovereignty Seal. The Portal should also list the national competent authorities responsible for acting as contact points for the implementation of the STEP at national level.
Amendment 47 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 10 a (new)
Recital 10 a (new)
(10a) The Commission should monitor the implementation of the Platform objectives to track progress towards the Union’s policy objectives. The monitoring should be conducted in a manner that is targeted and proportionate to the activities carried out under the Platform to avoid overregulation and administrative burden, in particular for the beneficiaries of funding. In order to ensure accountability to the Union’s citizens, the Commission should report annually to the European Parliament and to the Council on the progress of implementation of the Platform objectives under each of the programmes and funds, on the overall expenditure of the STEP financed under the respective programmes and funds, and on the performance of the STEP based on the performance indicators provided for by those programmes. Furthermore, information should be provided on the Platform's qualitative and quantitative contribution to cross-border projects and to projects per Member State.
Amendment 52 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 19
Recital 19
(19) InvestEU is the EU flagship programme to boost investment, especially the green and digital transition, by providing demand-driven financing, including through blending mechanisms, and technical assistance. Such approach contributes to crowd in additional public and private capital. Given the high market demand of InvestEU guarantee, the EU compartment of InvestEU should be reinforced to correspond to the objectives of the STEP. This will, among other things, reinforce InvestEU’s existing possibility to invest in projects forming part of an IPCEI, within the identified critical technology sectors. In addition, Member States are encouraged to contribute to the InvestEU Member State compartment to support financial products in line with the STEP objectives, without prejudice to applicable State aid rules. It should be possible for Member States to include as a measure in their recovery and resilience plans a cash contribution for the purpose of the Member State compartment of InvestEU to support objectives of the STEP. That additional contribution to support objectives of the STEP could reach up to 610% of their recovery and resilience plan’s total financial allocation to the Member State compartment of InvestEU. Additional flexibility and clarifications with regards to cross-border critical projects should also be introduced to better pursue the objectives of the STEP.
Amendment 57 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 4 – paragraph 1
Article 4 – paragraph 1
1. The Commission shall award a Sovereignty Seal to any action contributing to any of the Platform objectives, provided the action has been assessed and complies with the minimum quality requirements, in particular eligibility, exclusion and award criteria, provided by a call for proposals under Regulation (EU) 2021/695, Regulation (EU) 2021/694, Regulation (EU) 2021/697, Regulation (EU) 2021/522, or Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/856. The atribution shall be reviewd once the project is modified.
Amendment 58 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 4 – paragraph 1 a (new)
Article 4 – paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. 1. The Commission shall set up a STEP Committee composed of Commission experts on the technologies referred to in Article 2(1) , point (a) and on the Union programmes and funds from which the Platform is financially supported. 2. The STEP Committee shall have the following tasks: (a) to provide first point of contact support to project promoters, including by advising on funding possibilities and by coordinating with responsible Commission services; (b) to award and promote the Sovereignty Seal referred to in Article 4(1) and to liaise with managing authorities responsible for calls for proposals and calls for tender to increase the funding opportunities across programmes for projects that have been awarded the Sovereignty Seal, without interfering in the selection procedures; (c) to set up and manage the Sovereignty portal in accordance with Article 6; (d) to liaise with other existing structures, especially the Net-Zero Europe Platform established in accordance with Regulation (EU) .../... [Net Zero Industry Act] and the Critical Raw Materials Board established pursuant to Regulation (EU) .../... [Critical Raw Materials Act], national competent authorities designated in accordance with Article 6(4) of this Regulation, implementing partners and the European Advisory Group referred to in paragraph 3 of this Article, with a view to coordinating and exchanging information about the financial needs of, the existing bottlenecks and the best practices for projects across the Union; (e) to foster contacts across sectors referred to in Article 2, making particular use of existing industrial alliances, networks and structures, such as the European Institute of Innovation & Technology (EIT) and the Joint Undertakings; 3. The Commission shall set up a European Advisory Group on Strategic Technologies composed of representatives of Union industry to advise and assist it on the implementation of the Platform in the relevant sectors.
Amendment 61 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 4 – paragraph 5
Article 4 – paragraph 5
5. Under Regulation (EU) 2021/523, the Sovereignty Seal shall be taken into account in the context of the procedure provided for in Article 19 of the European Investment Bank Statute and of the policy check as laid down in Article 23(3) of that Regulation. In addition, the implementing partners shall examine projects having been awarded the Sovereignty Seal in case they fall within their geographic and activity scope as laid down in Article 26(5) of that Regulation.
Amendment 64 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 6 – paragraph 1 – introductory part
Article 6 – paragraph 1 – introductory part
1. The Commission shall establish a dedicated publicly available website (the ‘Sovereignty portal’), providing investors with information about funding opportunities for projects linked exclusively to the Platform objectives and grant visibility to those projects, in particular by displaying the following information:
Amendment 72 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 16 – paragraph 1 – point 6
Article 16 – paragraph 1 – point 6
Regulation (EU) 2021/523
Article 13 – paragraph 4 a (new)
Article 13 – paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. Where national promotional banks or institutions do not make full use of the remaining 25 % of the EU guarantee under the EU compartment, the excess amount may be granted to the EIB Group;
Amendment 74 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 16 – paragraph 1 – point 6 a (new)
Article 16 – paragraph 1 – point 6 a (new)
Regulation (EU) 2021/523
Article 13 – paragraph 6 a (new)
Article 13 – paragraph 6 a (new)
(6a) In Article 13, the following paragraph shall be inserted: “6a. The EIB Group shall aim for balance in terms of technological, objectives, geographical balance, in particular, with regards to cross-boarder projects.”
Amendment 83 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 19 – paragraph 1 – point 1
Article 19 – paragraph 1 – point 1
Regulation (EU) 2021/241
Article 7 – paragraph 3
Article 7 – paragraph 3
3. Without prejudice to paragraph 2, Member States may also propose to include in their recovery and resilience plan, as estimated costs, the amount of the cash contribution for the purpose of the Member State compartment pursuant to the relevant provisions of the InvestEU Regulation exclusively for measures supporting investment operations contributing to the STEP objectives referred to in Article 2 of Regulation .../...71 [STEP Regulation]. Those costs shall not exceed 610 % of the recovery and resilience plan’s total financial allocationmount, and the relevant measures, as set out in the recovery and resilience plan, shall respect the requirements of this Regulation. _________________ 71 Regulation …/… of the European Parliament and of the Council … [insert full title and OJ reference].