On Wednesday 26 February, the European Commission will propose a reform of the InvestEU programme to mobilise up to €50 billion in additional private and public investment, as part of the first round of ‘omnibus’ proposals designed to simplify EU regulation (see EUROPE 13578/1).
As anticipated recently by the chair of theInvestEU steering board before the European Parliament (see EUROPE 13571/19), the Commission believes it is possible to increase the public guarantee from the EU budget by €2.5 billion by 2027, by re-using budgetary resources (‘reflows’) from previous financial instruments or programmes (EFSI funds, CEF, InnovFin and COSME), according to draft legislation obtained by Agence Europe.
The Commission will also suggest to Member States that they increase the allocation of the national section of the InvestEU programme by authorising them to redeploy funds under shared management within the framework of the RRF Facility, the budgetary instrument of the European post-Covid-19 recovery plan, or from other national funds. This approach will stimulate investment in shares or the granting of debt instruments in currencies other than the euro without exposing the Union’s budget to exchange rate risk, according to the EU institution.
Simplification. In line with the mission set by the ‘von der Leyen II’ Commission, the legislative review will also aim to simplify the administrative burden, particularly with regard to the reporting obligations of financial intermediaries and project sponsors, especially SMEs. The Commission estimates that these simplifications will save €200 million.
Other efficiency measures include the clarification of the selection of financial intermediaries and the possibility for implementing partners to rely on management declarations covering the InvestEU programme and other EU programmes in which they participate, without the need to accompany these declarations with an audit opinion.
Other efficiency gains are expected through non-legislative measures. In particular, there is talk of reducing the reporting obligations incumbent on partners responsible for implementing former investment aid programmes.
The Commission believes that by June 2024, the InvestEU programme had mobilised €280 billion in additional investment, including €200 billion from the private sector.
See the Commission’s draft regulation: https://aeur.eu/f/fl7 (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion with Anne Damiani)