Brussels, 19/05/2015 (Agence Europe) - Talks between the Council of the EU and the European Parliament on creating a European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) are stalling, according to parliamentary sources.
A trialogue negotiation session in Strasbourg, which was attended by the Commissioners for Investment, Jyrki Katainen, and the Budget, Kristalina Georgieva, ended late in the night from Monday 18 to Tuesday 19 May. “We did not move forward an inch. The Presidency of the Council is remaining inflexible on everything”, a European Parliament source told us. A particular stumbling block is how the public guarantee from the EU budget for the EFSI will be made up (see EUROPE 11315). “Compared to the Council, a snail is like a cheetah”, Udo Bullmann (S&D, Germany), co-rapporteur of the EP on this dossier tweeted after the trialogue session (our translation). When approached, the Latvian Presidency of the Council was unable to comment on the progress in the talks. The next negotiating sessions will take place this Wednesday 20, and then Tuesday 26 and Wednesday 27 May. The aim is still to reach a political agreement by the end of May, so that the EFSI can be up and running in the autumn.
On Tuesday 19 May, the EIB, which is responsible for pre-selecting projects in the framework of the Juncker investment plan, approved loans for 21 new projects which will be eligible for support under the EFSI. Some of these projects concern investments to promote energy efficiency, renewable energy and energy infrastructure considered strategic for total amount in excess of €8 billion, the institution announced in a press release.
Four projects will focus on promoting energy efficiency. These include a project to reduce heating bills for 40,000 households in France, a project to reduce industrial energy consumption in Finland and a project to improve the deployment of gas transmission in Spain. (Mathieu Bion)