On Tuesday 12 December, the European Parliament approved by a sizeable majority (502 votes to 125 with 19 abstentions) the inter-institutional agreement doubling the duration and firepower of the European investment plan.
This key initiative of the 'Juncker' Commission was proposed at the end of 2014 to change the EU's political priorities following the financial and sovereign debt crisis, moving away from consolidating public finances and towards encouraging investment in Europe. It will now be prolonged and its firepower will be increased to €500 billion up to 2020 (and €630 billion up to 2022).
The 'Juncker' investment plan has helped to reduce the investment gap, but it is not enough to plug it entirely, said Udo Bullmann (S&D, Germany), co-rapporteur on this dossier. On Tuesday, the Parliament also called on the EU to define a global investment strategy. José Manuel Fernandes (EPP, Portugal), the other co-rapporteur, said that the criteria of additionality, making it possible to select projects that would not otherwise attract the funding to get off the ground, or only to a lesser extent, have been reinforced.
The Commissioner for Economic Growth, Jyrki Katainen, quoted figures put forward by the EIB, which is responsible for selecting the projects to receive a public guarantee from the EU Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI): since autumn 2015, €250 billion in support has been granted to more than 500,000 companies, creating 690,000 new jobs. Furthermore, EU GDP will have grown by 0.67% in 2020, Katainen added. He cited Estonia, Bulgaria, Greece, Portugal and Spain as the member states that are making the most of the investment plan.
During the debate, several MEPs criticised the difficulties in assessing the impact of the 'Juncker' investment plan precisely and specifically.
The inter-institutional negotiations focused mainly on the funding conditions of the extension of the EFSI public guarantee, which is based on the Community budget and the EIB. The Parliament has also won the right to appoint an independent expert to the steering committee of the EFSI, but this individual will not have voting rights (see EUROPE 11900, 11861). Bullmann said that this provision would help to increase the transparency of the decisions made, as would the publication of information on whether the performance criteria had been met, for each project selected or rejected.
A new feature of the 'Juncker' plan is the option to support innovative projects in the cultural industries and the social economy and infrastructures. We need to invest in the social sector, Romana Tomc (EPP, Romania) stressed.
Eider Gardiazabal (S&D, Spain) was pleased to note that certain guarantees associated with EFSI support have been reduced to allow more projects to be supported. The governance of the EIB will change so as not to use tax havens in its operations, Pervenche Berès (S&D, France) noted with appreciation.
However, several MEPs called for the 'Juncker' plan to be axed. Bernd Kölmel (ECR, Germany) feels that it will lead to a managed economy. However, Liadh Ni Riada (GUE/NGL, Ireland) takes the opposite view, considering that the EU is supporting investment by lining the pockets of those who already have more than enough instead of helping people in need. The amendment by the ENF group, which is opposed to the legislative proposal, was comfortably rejected. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)