On Tuesday, 9 March, the European Parliament approved—by a strong majority (496 votes in favour, 57 against, 144 abstentions)—the interinstitutional agreement on the regulation establishing the InvestEU Programme designed to boost investment in the European Union.
Taking over from the ‘Juncker’ investment plan for the 2021–2027 period, the InvestEU Programme will, in fact, make it possible to attract private investment in projects by granting a public guarantee from the European Union meant, if need be, to absorb any potential losses incurred on a specific project (see EUROPE 12618/21).
The EU’s public guarantee will be divided among the following four policy windows: €9.9 billion (37% of the total) for sustainable infrastructure; €6.6 billion (25.1%) for research, innovation, and digitalisation; €6.9 billion (26.3%) for SMEs; and €2.8 billion (10.7%) for the social sector and skills.
Even in the absence of specific policy windows, investments in strategic sectors and equity investments in solvent companies affected by the Covid-19 pandemic will be allowed.
During a plenary debate, José Manuel Fernandes (EPP, Portugal), a European Parliament co-rapporteur on this file, reiterated that MEPs had fought to obtain a €1 billion budget extension for InvestEU in the context of negotiations with the EU Council on the post-2020 Multiannual Financial Framework. He added that Member States will be able, on a voluntary basis, to mobilise up to 5% of the EU Cohesion Policy envelope and up to 4% of the national allocation under the Next Generation EU Recovery Plan so as to finance the national compartment of the InvestEU Programme.
The other co-rapporteur, Irene Tinagli (S&D, Italy), indicated that it was now advisable to decide on delegated acts to implement the programme, “in particular the one on investment guidance”, as well as the composition of the entities responsible for the programme’s governance.
On behalf of the European Commission, Paolo Gentiloni stressed the importance of programmes like InvestEU—programmes that will save the EU from repeating the mistakes of the 2008 financial crisis after which investment dried up, thus delaying economic recovery. He noted that certain Member States have expressed interest in using the programme to make their national recovery plans a reality.
See the regulation establishing the InvestEU Programme: http://bit.ly/3ccAItL (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)