In Strasbourg on Monday 3 April, the 'budgets' and 'economic and monetary affairs' of the Parliament debated the legislative plan to double the duration and firepower of the 'Juncker' investment plan.
The issues discussed included; - financing the extension of the plan up to 2020, the year in which the current multi-annual financial framework ends; - emphasising the additional nature of the projects to be supported by the plan; - the geographical and thematic diversification of the investments approved; - support to investments in the social and environmental fields, in line with the EU's commitments in the fight against climate change; - the governance of the investment plan within the European Investment Bank (EIB).
As when the 'Juncker' plan was created in May 2015, the legislative battle between the co-legislating institutions will be fought on budgetary ground (see EUROPE 11323).
On Monday, José Manuel Fernandes (EPP, Portugal) took a tough line towards the European Commission: “the Commission said 'we will never take any more money from places we have already taken it from, so not from Horizon 2020 or the connecting Europe Facility (CEF)'. This is why we do not want to take money from the CEF. Pacta sunt servanda”. He said that it would be “logical”, instead, to take €650 million from the unused budgetary margins under the ceiling of one or more headings of the multi-annual financial framework of 2020, as provided for by Parliament's draft report he co-wrote with Udo Bullmann (S&D, Germany) (see EUROPE 11750).
Earlier on, Benjamin Angel, the Commission's representative on the steering board of the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), the financial arm of the 'Juncker' plan, had warned the MEPs off this idea, stressing current uncertainty due in particular to the imminent negotiations between the United Kingdom and the EU on Brexit.
Nor did the official think much of the MEPs' idea of giving the steering board competence to set pricing guidelines for operations supported by the EFSI, as the Treaties state that this is the responsibility of the Governing Council of the EIB. The steering board could set the remuneration related to the public guarantee granted by the EFSI, but if you do this without changing the pricing policy, it is the EIB that will benefit, he said.
Bullmann, who firmly believes that the MEPs can show a united front on this dossier, urged the Commission to adopt a more constructive approach so as to improve the investment plan on the basis of lessons learned.
Nearly 400 amendments have been tabled to the report on the implementation of the 'Juncker' plan, and nearly 500 more to the legislative draft to extend and expand the initiative. Both reports will be voted on in Brussels on Monday 24 April. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)