In order to benefit from aid under the new Solvency Support Instrument, companies that pollute or have a high carbon footprint "will be asked to produce green transition plans", said the European Commission's Executive Vice-President in charge of the Green Deal, Frans Timmermans, on Thursday 28 May, at a joint press conference with Commissioners Elisa Ferreira and Nicolas Schmit.
The Commission's objective is to ensure that the businesses supported by the instrument "are taking it in the right direction" [towards a green, resilient and digital economy] in their efforts to recover.
Part of the second pillar of Next Generation EU, the financial arm of the European Recovery Plan presented yesterday by the European Commission (see EUROPE 12494/2), the Solvency Support Instrument will aim to urgently mobilise private investment in viable companies endangered by the Covid-19 crisis by providing partial guarantees against losses.
More generally, the Vice-President assured that all Next Generation EU programmes will be used to support "the investments and reforms that are essential for a sustainable recovery".
In particular, he stressed that national recovery plans drawn up by Member States wishing to benefit from EU support under the new Recovery and Resilience Facility will be assessed against the dual transition objectives: green and digital. "This way we are ensuring that the money is spent in line with our Green Deal and digital ambitions", he said.
Nevertheless, this green and digital conditionality seems, at this stage, far from guaranteed. In fact, after examining the national programme of a Member State wishing to benefit from support under this new instrument, the Commission will provide recommendations, but these will not be binding (see EUROPE 12495/12).
However, in response to a question from a journalist, the vice-president said that if national plans do not comply with the 'do no harm' principle - the principle that only projects that do not harm the environment are supported - they will not receive EU financial support.
Finally, Mr Timmermans reiterated the Commission's willingness to increase the resources of certain European instruments which, in his view, can help to achieve the climate objectives.
He mentioned in particular the Just Transition Fund (+32.5 billion euros), the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (+15 billion euros) and InvestEU. With regard to the latter, the European institution is proposing to double the amount of its component devoted to sustainable infrastructure.
"This means it will provide an EU guarantee of roughly 20 billion euros to sustainable infrastructure projects, including the renovation wave for local jobs", said Mr Timmermans. (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)