Brussels, 02/09/2015 (Agence Europe) - President of the Committee of the Regions (CoR) Markku Markkula and President of the European Investment Bank (EIB) Werner Hoyer have spoken of possibilities for closer cooperation, particularly in mobilising the European fund for strategic investments (EFSI), the financial arm of the Juncker investment plan.
Discussions were based partly on the 2015 cooperation action plan, published on 18 March, between the CoR and the EIB which provides for a range of cooperation initiatives. Thus the EIB could in future be involved in the preparation of CoR opinion, for example with the COTER (territorial cohesion policy), ENVE (environment, climate change and energy), ECON (economic policies) and SEDEC (social policies education, employment, research and culture) commissions.
The document also makes provision for closer cooperation between the EIB specialists and the CoR commission rapporteurs and also in the area of research, with EIB specialists joining CoR study groups, for example, on cohesion policy after 2020, already announced by the European Commission (see EUROPE 11377).
In light of the increasing involvement of the EIB in the work of the CoR, the two organisations are looking to sign a protocol of understanding. In the near future, they will hold a joint seminar on the specific role of the EIB with regard to co-financing of integrated territorial investment programmes (ITIs), which allow the budgets from various funding streams to be brought together and facilitate investment under the EUROPE 2020 strategy.
The EIB will also be invited to attend European neighbourhood policy events, for example, with the Euro-Mediterranean Regional and Local Assembly (ARLEM) and the Conference of the Regional and Local Authorities for the Eastern Partnership (CORLEAP).
Finally, with regard to the EFSI, the president of the CoR, after giving his observations (see EUROPE 11379), indicated that the Committee of the Regions was intent on continuing its efforts to raise awareness of the investment plan and invited the EIB to join it in the campaign. (Pascal Hansens)