Brussels, 09/03/2015 (Agence Europe) - The Committee of the Regions (CoR) has begun working on its opinion on the €315 billion investment plan by the European Commission. It is due to adopt this at its 111th plenary session in Brussels on 16 April.
The opinion is expected to be quite short and to provide concrete proposals for improving the draft regulation on the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) - which is currently being assessed by the European Parliament and Council.
The first debate on the subject of this opinion took place in the CoR's commission for territorial cohesion policy (COTER) on 3 March. The rapporteur, Claude Gewerc from France and president of the Picardy region, presented a working document, in which he asks if €315 billion will be enough for boosting the European economy and what the impact of this plan will be on cohesion policy. Gewerc also asks how the regions could be more closely associated with the governance of the EFSI. This could go through the regional platforms that the Commission wants to set up, but on which it has not so far given any explanation.
The deputy director-general of the Commission's DG ECFIN, Maarten Verwey, also attended the CoR debate on 3 March and repeated the Commission's resolve not to have the EFSI function along the lines of fair return. The states that agree to contribute to this fund will not have more projects financed on their territory.
Gewerc is due to meet European Commission Vice-President for Jobs, Growth, Investment and Competitiveness Jyrki Katainen in Paris on 12 March. Katainen will be in the French capital as part of his tour of the capitals, aiming to garner contributions to the investment plan.
The CoR adopted the Juncker plan in early December 2014. It hailed the announcement of the investment plan, while questioning the lever effect of 15, calling for the plan not to have a negative impact on the COSME and Horizon 2020 programmes that already exist, and underlining a demand for quality in the projects supported (especially in terms of education, research, energy efficiency and sustainable development). The CoR also called for increased involvement from the national and regional banks for development. A European Commission source states that the Commission has since given more detail on this investment plan and that the CoR can therefore provide a more detailed opinion on its subject. (Jean Comte)