Member States’ ambassadors to the European Union (Coreper) adopted without debate on Wednesday 4 November a partial negotiating mandate on the InvestEU programme for the period 2021-2027, setting the number of investment components at four. The European Commission proposed five, while the European Parliament’s Budget and Economic Affairs Committees identified six (see EUROPE 12591/6).
Successor to the ‘Juncker’ post-2020 investment plan, the InvestEU programme aims to attract additional private investment through a public financial guarantee based on the EU budget and to streamline fourteen existing EU programmes. The European Commission had proposed in May to strengthen it, primarily by adding a fifth component devoted to strategic investments to take into account the experience of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The partial mandate of the EU Council has been drawn up taking into account the reduction of the European public guarantee to €23.48 billion and the abolition of the strategic investment component, in line with the European Council’s agreement at the end of July on the EU budget post-2020.
Member States are reinstating the possibility of supporting investments through the four original components of the InvestEU programme. There is also a horizontal regime to promote a ‘just transition’.
The EU Council agreement breaks down the state guarantee into the four components as follows: - €8.2 billion (35% of the total) for sustainable infrastructure; - €6.5 billion (27.5%) for research, innovation and digital transition; - €6.5 billion (27.5%) for SMEs; - €2.35 billion (10%) for the social sector and skills.
Before the trilogue negotiations can start, the position of the two European Parliament committees responsible will have to be confirmed at the plenary session in November.
See the text agreed by the Member States: https://bit.ly/3p0dKf4 (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean with Mathieu Bion)