Brussels, 27/05/2015 (Agence Europe) - The negotiating positions of the European Parliament and EU Council of Ministers on the draft regulation to establish the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) moved closer in inter-institutional talks in the night of Tuesday 26 May (see EUROPE 11319).
A Parliament source said on Wednesday 27 May that things were going well because the Council had agreed to make a few steps in the direction of the Parliament, which has gained the right to scrutinise EFSI governance (the appointment of leaders and experts on the investment committee). As desired by the EP, the lifeline of the financial arm of the Juncker Plan that is expected to attract more than €300 billion in investment by 2017 could last longer than the three years initially planned.
Decisive three-way talks? New trialogue negotiations were beginning on Wednesday as we went to press, and may prove decisive. The main stumbling block is how the €16 billion EFSI guarantee is to be set up from the EU budget. Budget Commissioner Kristalina Georgieva said that the two EU institutions were seeking the best way of minimising the impact of dipping into the budget for the guarantee on the financing of the Horizon 2020 research programme and the Connecting Europe mechanism. “There's a great deal of interest to find a way to reduce the impact on the two programmes”, she said, hoping to be able to make use of the greater visibility now available for implementation of the 2014 and 2015 budgets. Another question to be dealt with is the EFSI investment guidelines, for which the Parliament wants the right of scrutiny by means of a delegated act. (Mathieu Bion)