Activities of Dimitrios PAPADIMOULIS related to 2020/2124(INI)
Plenary speeches (1)
Financial activities of the European Investment Bank - annual report 2020 - Control of the financial activities of the European Investment Bank - annual report 2019 (debate)
Shadow reports (1)
REPORT on the financial activities of the European Investment Bank – annual report 2020
Shadow opinions (1)
OPINION on the financial activities of the European Investment Bank – annual report 2020
Amendments (43)
Amendment 3 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 6 a (new)
Citation 6 a (new)
— having regard to the EIB Financial Report for 2019, published on 5 May 2020,
Amendment 5 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 13 a (new)
Citation 13 a (new)
— having regard to the EIB’s approval of the ratification of the Paris Agreement by the EU of 7 October 2016,
Amendment 6 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 13 b (new)
Citation 13 b (new)
— having regard to the UN Sustainable Development Goals,
Amendment 12 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1 a. Stresses that the COVID-19 crisis has exacerbated the disparities in the EU, its Member States and its regions; calls on the EIB to enhance its efforts for fair, inclusive and sustainable territorial development of all regions thus contributing to social, economic and territorial convergence and cohesion;
Amendment 14 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas under Article 309 of the TFEU and in line with the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union, the EIB is tasked with contributing to the achievement of the Union’s objectives; whereas under Article 18 of its Statute, the EIB should ensure that its funds are employed as rationally as possible in the interests of the Union;
Amendment 16 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B a (new)
Recital B a (new)
B a. whereas the EIB Group is bound by the Treaties to contribute to EU integration, economic and social cohesion and regional development, through various investment instruments such as loans, equities, guarantees, risk-sharing facilities and advisory services;
Amendment 39 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3 a. Underlines the pivotal role of SMEs as the backbone of Europe's economy, representing almost 99% of all businesses and providing around three- quarters of all jobs, while being key drivers of innovation; points out that SMEs have been severely hit by the COVID-19 crisis; calls on the EIB to further enhance its support to SMEs;
Amendment 47 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Amendment 56 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4 a. Urges the EIB to address regional inequalities by supporting direct public investments and the development plans of public authorities, particularly in peripheral countries and countries in post-financial assistance phase, as well as advising on the development of new private and public projects, especially in innovation, digitalisation, infrastructure, support of SMEs and providing the unemployed, particularly the young people, with skills and training, access to finance, aiming at high-quality employment;
Amendment 62 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5 a. Calls for the exclusion of the EIB programmes from public debt;
Amendment 63 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Stresses the importance of avoiding further geographical imbalances in the EIB’s lending activity so as to ensure a broader geographical and sectoral allocation of investments, reduce regional disparities and enhance convergenceeconomic and social convergence; calls on the EIB to address systemic shortcomings that prevent certain regions or countries from taking full advantage of its financial activities, inter alia by providing technical assistance and advisory support, especially in regions with low investment capacity, and by advising on the development of projects; welcomes the efforts already made by the EIB in this regard;
Amendment 66 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5 a. Calls for Parliament’s oversight to be strengthened in order to enhance EIB’s accountability and the democratic scrutiny of its policies and investments, including the ability to submit questions for written answer to the EIB as already provided for the ECB;
Amendment 78 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
Amendment 92 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12 a (new)
Paragraph 12 a (new)
12 a. Calls on the EIB to uphold its commitment to align all its operations with the objectives of the Paris Agreement and the EU’s objective of achieving climate neutrality by 2050 at the latest;
Amendment 94 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Welcomes the proposaldecision to increase EIB financing for climate action and environmental sustainability, including renewable energies, from around 30 % to at least 50 % by 2025, which would unlock investment of more than EUR 1 trillion over the next decade;
Amendment 100 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Notes, however, that the roadmap envisages the introduction of a transition period until the end of 2022, which would mean that the EIB, including EIF operations, will not be aligned with the objectives of the Paris Agreement until 2023 at the earliest; calls on the EIB to strive for full compliance with the Paris Agreement in the ongoing appraisal procedures;
Amendment 109 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 a (new)
Paragraph 14 a (new)
14 a. Call on the EIB to implement the principle of energy efficiency and set the objective of tackling energy poverty in all its energy lending;
Amendment 114 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Recalls that the review of the EIB’s transport lending policy is a key priority; stresses the importance of aligning the EIB’s transport portfolio with the Paris Agreement as soon as possible; calls for the adoption of a new transport financing policy to decarbonise the EU transport sector by 2050 at the latest;
Amendment 126 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16 a (new)
Paragraph 16 a (new)
16 a. Underlines that Member States and regions have different starting points when it comes to the transition to a carbon-neutral economy and that some of them will be much more exposed to economic and social risks; points out that the EIB, as part of the Just Transition Mechanism, should ensure the just transition while leaving no one behind; emphasises that special attention should be paid to the protection of the citizens and workers that will be most affected by the transition, inter alia, by providing access to re-skilling and up-skilling programmes and by promoting investments in new economic sectors that will create new and high-quality jobs;
Amendment 130 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16 b (new)
Paragraph 16 b (new)
16 b. Calls on the EIB to develop ambitious action plans to guide the implementation of its Climate Bank Roadmap and its contribution to the Just Transition Mechanism, while ensuring the involvement of all relevant stakeholders, including NGOs, trade unions and local authorities, in the development and implementation of such action plans;
Amendment 134 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. Considers that investment in innovation, infrastructure and skills are crucial elements to recover from the economic and social crisis, ensure sustainable and inclusive growth and create high-quality jobs and long-term competitiveness;
Amendment 142 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18
Paragraph 18
18. RUnderlines the pivotal role of SMEs as the backbone of Europe’s economy, representing almost 99 % of all businesses and providing around three quarters of all jobs, while being key drivers of innovation; points out that SMEs have been severely hit by the COVID-19 crisis and many of them are facing unprecedented challenges, especially liquidity challenges; reiterates that supporting SMEs and mid-caps must remain a fundamental objective for the EIB, notably to provide capital support and to assist them with decarbonisation and access to ICT tools; welcomes efforts made to provide online assistance and counselling to SMEs in accessing EIB lending and calls on the EIB to further enhance its support to SMEs;
Amendment 152 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19 a (new)
Paragraph 19 a (new)
19 a. Calls on the EIB to include in its SMEs strategy, the reinforcement of its administrative and advising capacities to provide information and technical support to SMEs, especially regarding developing SMEs and SMEs applying for finance;
Amendment 167 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22
Paragraph 22
22. Calls on the EIB to play an active role in helping Member States to deliver on the implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights and the UN Sustainable Development Goals, while standing ready to align with the forthcoming Commission action plan and the Social Summit in Porto; points to the importance of ex-ante and ex- post evaluations of the sustainability, economic, social and environmental impact of projects;
Amendment 184 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24 a (new)
Paragraph 24 a (new)
24 a. Calls on the EIB to prioritise positive development impact, namely domestic resource mobilisation and inequalities reduction;
Amendment 186 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24 b (new)
Paragraph 24 b (new)
24 b. Calls on the EIB to put in place tailored indicators to measure the reduction of inequalities, tax revenues generation for host countries, and the impact on gender and marginalised groups;
Amendment 187 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24 c (new)
Paragraph 24 c (new)
24 c. Calls on the EIB to pay attention to third countries and regions outside the EU suffering from conflict and extreme poverty, with the aim of reducing the development gap between the EU and those regions; calls for a special focus on the Southern Mediterranean and Eastern European Neighbourhood countries; calls on the EIB to respect the legislation of the beneficiary countries and to increase the efficiency of the Results Measurement Framework (REM);
Amendment 188 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24 d (new)
Paragraph 24 d (new)
24 d. Urges the EIB to refrain from working with clients and financial intermediaries that do not have a development orientation, such as private equity funds;
Amendment 189 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25
Paragraph 25
25. Recalls its request for an interinstitutional agreement between the EIB and Parliament in order to improve access to EIB documents and data and enhance democratic accountability, including the ability to submit questions for written answer to the EIB as already provided for in the case of the ECB;
Amendment 193 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26 a (new)
Paragraph 26 a (new)
26 a. Calls on the EIB to increase its reporting to the Parliament and stakeholders regarding its decisions, progress achieved and the impact of its lending activities, through regular structured dialogues increasing parliamentary oversight, and to apply the same reporting and accountability provisions as set out in the EFSI regulation;
Amendment 198 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26 b (new)
Paragraph 26 b (new)
26 b. Calls on the EIB to further enhance transparency and access to information for the Parliament and other institutions, as well as for the public, especially regarding the contracting and subcontracting system, the results of internal investigations and the selection, monitoring and evaluation of activities and programmes;
Amendment 199 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26 c (new)
Paragraph 26 c (new)
26 c. Urges the EIB to enforce the independence and efficiency of the Complaint Mechanism Office and the Fraud Investigation Division and to further enhance the cooperation with the European Ombudsman;
Amendment 201 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27
Paragraph 27
27. Welcomes the EIB’s launch of a public consultation on the review of its transparency policy in December 2020; recalls its request for the EIB to step up its transparency policy in line with the best practices and standards employed by other financial institutions; asks the EIB to publish more regular, in-depth and comprehensive information on the financial intermediaries responsible for leveraging EIB funds and to include contractual clauses concerning mandatory disclosures from these institutions on lending activity; calls on the EIB to put an emphasis on the consultations with all interested stakeholders, in particular local communities, civil society and population affected by its projects;
Amendment 205 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27 a (new)
Paragraph 27 a (new)
27 a. Calls on the EIB to adopt a more ambitions transparency policy, especially regarding its governing bodies, including the disclosure of minutes and agendas of the meetings of the EIB Management Committee and the timely publication of information;
Amendment 208 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27 b (new)
Paragraph 27 b (new)
27 b. Calls on the EIB to commit to strengthen its policy against tax fraud, tax evasion and tax avoidance, including by refraining from funding beneficiaries or financial intermediaries and from cooperating with financial partners with a proven negative track record; calls on the EIB to enforce prevention measures and regular tax assessments against non- cooperative tax jurisdictions, tax and fiscal fraud and tax evasion, as well as illegal and aggressive tax avoidance;
Amendment 210 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27 c (new)
Paragraph 27 c (new)
27 c. Stresses some weaknesses in the EIB Group NCJ Policy, which allow the EIB to again fund projects that are related to tax havens; urges the EIB to develop mechanisms to avoid fuelling tax dodging; calls on the EIB not to finance and to use its mandatory relocation clause for an operation that uses entities either subject to zero taxation or less than 50 % taxation rate compared to the country of implementation of the project, including hybrid entities; urges the EIB not to make any use of entities for which a hybrid mismatch is possible, especially if they can benefit from preferential tax regimes, including intellectual property transfers or license agreements in low-tax jurisdictions, or if the entities are not covered by Controlled Foreign Corporation (CFC) rules and/or withholding taxes;
Amendment 213 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27 d (new)
Paragraph 27 d (new)
27 d. Calls on the EIB to review its framework for the EIB anti-corruption fight in order to improve cooperation with European authorities, especially the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) and the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO), and to mandatorily report potential fraud cases to national authorities;
Amendment 214 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27 e (new)
Paragraph 27 e (new)
27 e. Calls on the EIB to strengthen its Anti-Fraud Policy, including by reinforcing the due diligence on the clients’ track records, introducing provisions allowing for the suspension of disbursements and the termination of contracts in cases of violations of the Anti-Fraud Policy and by opening national or other official investigations, in order to stop financing projects that are under fraud and corruption investigations;
Amendment 217 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27 f (new)
Paragraph 27 f (new)
27 f. Calls on the EIB to prevent companies receiving support, especially under the EGF, from paying dividends to their shareholders,giving out bonuses to their CEOs and carrying out share buybacks;
Amendment 223 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 28
Paragraph 28
28. Welcomes the EIB’s Group Strategy on Gender Equality and Gender Action Plan; regrets the fact that women are still not sufficiently represented in managerial and senior office positions; believes that more needs to be done in this regard during the implementation of the second phase of the Action Plan in 2021; calls on the EIB to further enhance the promotion of all forms of diversity and inclusion within its organisation and to set ambitious targets;
Amendment 225 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 29
Paragraph 29
29. Welcomes the fact that the EIB will review its environmental and social standards and; calls on EIB to introduce binding social and environmental criteria as part of the guidelines on counterparty alignment, including the requirement for clients to have clear and binding decarbonisation plans in line with the Paris Agreement; calls for a wide and inclusive public consultation on these issues; invites the EIB to take account ofincorporate the do-no harm principle in all its operations; calls on the EIB to take this opportunity to strengthen its human rights policy and to increase the human rights dimension in its project planning, including by providing a Human Rights Strategy, as well as HR Assessment and Evaluation of its programmes, also on the ground, to ensure that local communities are meaningfully consulted and that the right to free prior and informed consent (FPIC) is implemented in a systematic manner; calls on the EIB to develop specific policies on human rights defenders and protocols to respond to risks of reprisals;
Amendment 232 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 29 a (new)
Paragraph 29 a (new)
29 a. Calls on the European Court of Auditors (ECA) to produce a special report with recommendations on the performance of the EIB activities and their alignment with the EU policies and objectives;
Amendment 234 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 29 b (new)
Paragraph 29 b (new)
29 b. Calls for the ECA to be granted full auditing rights on all EIB operations, as part of the forthcoming tripartite agreement between the ECA, the EIB and the Commission;