The Slovak Presidency of the Council of the EU will sound the European finance ministers out over how best to improve the Juncker investment plan, at their informal meeting to be held in Bratislava on Friday 9 and Saturday 10 September.
This discussion will aim to feed into the reflection of the member states on whether this three-year European initiative, which was launched in autumn 2015 and which has, according to Growth and Investment Commissioner Jyrki Katainen, already attracted more than a third (€115 billion) of the target additional investment, should be extended until 2020 (see EUROPE 11583 and 11563).
One of the elements the Slovak Presidency wants to go into in more detail is how best to guarantee the additional nature of the investments mobilised via the public guarantee provided by the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI). "There is a general concern, at technical and political level, that additionality is not being sufficiently delivered", the Slovak authorities note in a document to be used as a basis for the ministerial discussions. The MEPs came to similar conclusions in June (see EUROPE 11568). The Slovak authorities are now putting forward the idea of devising "transparent criteria" to verify that an investment would not have been made without the involvement of the Juncker plan.
A better definition of projects to be deemed strategic could be considered, according to the Slovak Presidency, as well as increased decentralisation of the plan to "improve the geographical balance". When the Juncker plan was created, however, the member states and the European Parliament made sure that no single sector of activity or geographical area would be prioritised in order to avoid political interference in the selection of the projects.
The Slovak Presidency also takes the view that the EFSI's role as equity investor should be reinforced, for instance on the major public infrastructure segment. "To be successful, the EFSI should focus on diversifying funding sources in Europe through the development of EU equity market", it notes. Finally, it invites discussion on whether the member states should be provided with incentives to make direct contributions at EFSI level rather than supporting the projects implemented on their territory. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)