In Strasbourg on Monday 15 May, the committees on budgets (BUDG) and economic and financial affairs (ECON) of the European Parliament will decide on their position on extending duration and firepower of the 'Juncker' investment plan.
“This has taken longer than anticipated, but there are no more major questions outstanding”, EUROPE was told on Monday 8 May by a parliamentary source from the S&D group, of which one of the co-rapporteurs on this text, Germany's Udo Bullmann, is a member. The vote was scheduled for the end of April (see EUROPE 11770).
One of the elements, on which there now seems to be agreement, concerns the MEPs' wish to appoint an individual within the governing Council of the EU Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI). This individual may not be an MEP, so that Parliament will not be both judge and jury.
MEPs are expected to reject the Commission's proposal to dip into the budgetary lines of the Horizon 2020 and Connecting Europe Facility again to extend the investment plan, preferring instead to take the unused budgetary margins under the ceiling of one or more headings of the multi-annual financial framework for 2020.
However, further talks will still be needed on the how to ensure that the public guarantee under the EFSI benefits projects that would not secure funding without the 'Juncker' plan, or on less advantageous terms (criterion of additionality) only.
The S&D group would like projects of a social nature, such as social housing, to qualify for support. Parliament's other co-rapporteur, José Manuel Fernandes (EPP, Portugal), who wishes to redirect as much aid as possible to Portuguese economic players, is reported to have no objection to this, a second parliamentary source said, but added that the geographical and thematic distribution of projects runs counter to the philosophy of the 'Juncker' plan.
Last December, the Council of the EU reached an agreement in principle on the proposal to double the duration and firepower of the 'Juncker' plan aiming to attract €630 billion in new investments by 2022 (see EUROPE 11683). (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)