On Tuesday 22 January, the European Finance Ministers supported the proposal submitted to them on the governance of InvestEU, the programme designed in particular to take over from the ‘Juncker’ investment plan after 2020.
The proposed arrangements reflect a balance between the European Investment Bank (EIB), which wishes to preserve its banking role in the management of the European Fund for strategic investments (ESIF) under the Juncker plan, and the European Commission, which intends to retain its prerogatives in the management of financial instruments that will be included in the InvestEU programme in the future (see EUROPE 12173).
Many Member States - Portugal, Spain, France, Hungary, Malta - expressed support for the envisaged partnership between the EIB and the Commission, based on the positive experience of the ESIF. Some, such as Poland, the Czech Republic, Germany and Luxembourg, stressed the importance of the EIB playing a leading role in the future programme.
In particular, the establishment of a steering committee for the InvestEU Fund was approved. The exact composition and decision-making processes have yet to be determined, with the Commission and the EIB asking never to be outvoted in the event of a vote.
However, the EIB and the Commission are disputing the hosting of the secretariat of the Investment Committee of the InvestEU Fund, which will be responsible for selecting projects. Not surprisingly, Luxembourg has expressed its support for the EIB to host this secretariat.
Breakdown of the public guarantee granted by InvestEU. Ministers were also asked about the distribution of the public guarantee, based on the EU budget, that the InvestEU Fund will grant to project leaders. It has been suggested that a quarter of this public guarantee should be directly managed by partners such as national development banks.
Member States support this development in relation to the Juncker plan. Austria supported the EIB's request that InvestEU's implementing partners respect the same investment conditions, in the tax and environmental fields, as those applicable to the EIB.
Several countries - Finland, Poland, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, Sweden - reiterated their commitment to ensuring that the granting of the public guarantee responds first and foremost to the demand on the ground from project leaders. France and Sweden have thus rejected the definition of strict thresholds for the distribution of the public guarantee.
Nevertheless, some countries - Croatia, the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovenia, Sweden - stress the importance of an equitable distribution of projects, in particular through support for national development banks with less experience and resources than their counterparts. Such support could be provided through the adoption of specific guidelines.
“There is support for maintaining a demand driven approach, but I also sense openness regarding guiding principles to guarantee a broad impact of InvestEU”, summarised Romanian Minister Eugen Teodorovici, current President of the Ecofin Council, at the end of the public debate.
Finally, the idea of a gradual distribution of the public guarantee to implementing partners was rather well received. Finland, Spain, France, Poland, Ireland, Slovakia and Spain supported this idea. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)