Brussels, 30/04/2015 (Agence Europe) - In Strasbourg on Wednesday 29 April, the Council of the EU and the European Parliament discussed the question of the governance and financing of the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), the financial arm of the Juncker investment plan.
The governance of the EFSI will be the responsibility of a steering committee, which will decide on the investment guidelines, and an investment committee, which will be made up of experts tasked with selecting the projects on their own merit and avoiding any politicisation of the selection process. Based on the procedure used for the creation of the new European banking resolution agency (SRB), the Parliament is calling for a similar right of scrutiny in the appointment of the individuals who will govern the EFSI.
On the 'financing' plank of the EFSI guarantee fund (a total of €21 billion, with €16 billion coming from the EU budget), the two co-legislators reiterated their positions. The Commission feels that the EP will have no chance of getting the Council to accept its position, which is that as much use as possible must be made of the leeway in the EU budget before turning to budgetary lines already earmarked to fund investment projects (see EUROPE 11298). Irrespective of how the EFSI guarantee fund is constituted, the Council and the European Parliament can agree that it must be irrevocable and unconditional.
The next round of negotiation talks will be held in Brussels on Thursday 7 May, and will aim to review all subjects ahead of the Ecofin Council. On the agenda will be questions related to the principle of additionality, project selection and transparency. On Tuesday 12 May, the Ecofin Council will take stock of the negotiations. The Latvian Presidency is not at this stage planning to ask for a new mandate to continue negotiations with the European Parliament, the day after. (Mathieu Bion)