The two co-rapporteurs of the European Parliament on the extension of the 'Juncker' investment plan, Udo Bullmann (S&D, Germany) and José Manuel Fernandes (EPP, Portugal) do not want to see any more resources taken away from the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) to bolster the public guarantee of the Community budget on which the EU Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) is based.
Their draft report, which was debated on the evening of Monday 20 March at a joint meeting of the parliamentary committees on budgets and on economic and financial affairs, amends the European Commission's proposal to this effect. Instead, the two MEPs suggest mobilising €650 million from the unused budgetary margins under the ceiling of one or more headings of the multi-annual financial framework for 2020.
“We do not want the money to come from the CEF”, stressed Eider Gardiazabal Rubial (S&D, Spain).
The MEPs agreed to speed up the internal timetable to put together their negotiating position, whilst prioritising the quality of the reform over the speed of the talks (see EUROPE 11746). On the basis of the experience of the first version of the 'Juncker' plan, we are making several proposals for improvement, Bullmann said. He referred to a revision of the so-called 'additionality' criteria to ensure that the EFSI provides a public guarantee only to projects that would not see the light of day, at least not to the same extent, without the support of the 'Juncker' plan.
“We more or less agree on what needs to be done regarding EFSI 2.0”, said Bullmann, who hopes that the Parliament will stand united in order to hold sway in talks with the Council. Although the EFSI is a success, there is still room for improvement, Fernandes said. He called for “bridges” to be built between regional and national authorities and the financial institutions and greater synergy between the EFSI and the European structural funds. We must not forget the smaller projects, he added, an amendment to this effect having been tabled. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)