Udo Bullmann (S&D, Germany) and José Manuel Fernandes (EPP, Portugal), the co-rapporteurs of the European Parliament on the legislative proposal aiming to double the duration and firepower of the 'Juncker' investment plan, believe that this European initiative, in place since 2015, is working but there is still room for improvement, particularly regarding the qualitative criteria for project selection.
On a quantitative level, the results of the 'Juncker' plan are not bad, but qualitatively, these results are not entirely satisfactory, Bullmann told EUROPE on Thursday 2 February. We have had the impression too often that projects getting a public guarantee under the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) could have been financed without the support of the 'Juncker' plan, he said. Similarly, he believes that questions need to be asked about the geographical distribution of the projects and the transparency of the decisions made.
In order to remedy these shortcomings, Bullmann is calling for the existing rules to be applied more effectively by giving a bigger role to the scoreboard of indicators. This lays down non-binding guidelines for project selection for the investment committee, the internal EIB body tasked with choosing the projects to benefit from the public guarantee of the EFSI. The MEP also takes the view that the EIB should work much more proactively in creating decentralised platforms to bring together project holders, potential investors and business plan advisors.
The two co-rapporteurs have now finalised their assessment of the implementation of the 'Juncker' plan and are putting the finishing touches to their draft report on the legislative proposal. The question of the amounts has still to be settled, Bullmann said. They have set the objective of working with the member states to reach an inter-institutional agreement by the end of June. In December 2016, the Ecofin Council reached a political agreement in principle on extending the 'Juncker' plan (see EUROPE 11682). (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)