Brussels, 15/07/2003 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday, following the presentation of the Italian Presidency's work programme for the next six months, the majority of Ministers of the Economy and Finance welcomed the initiative to support, through increased investment in Trans-European networks and major research and development projects. They also called on the Economic and Finance Committee (EFC) to carry out a study on this area for this autumn to allow for a detailed discussion o at the Ecofin Council on 25 November. the European Commission and the European Investment Bank (EIB) will have to produce more detailed proposals for September. Final decisions on this ambitious strategy are expected to be taken during the European Council on 12-13 December.
Acting Ecofin Council President, Giulio Tremonti declared during a press conference that Denmark was the only country not to welcome his initiative on growth. The Italian Minister said the action plan was now not only an Italian plan but would become European. Commissioner Pedro Solbes gave assurances that the Commission would work with the Presidency.
EIB President, Philippe Maystadt declared that he had indicated to Ministers what they could and could not do. Mr Maystadt explained that some of the elements that are not directly overseen by the EIB but which were, "indispensable conditions for the success of the initiative. He also mentioned that everything could not be done at once (he pointed out that the Commission had to produce proposals for the Council to identify priority projects) and that "if we want to attract more private capital to finance projects in transport, the economic profitability of the projects should be improved". The EIB President explained that "the slowness of the implementation of the large projects does not just result from financial issues" but also due to, "the complexity of national and European administrative procedures". Despite his remarks, the EIB is prepared to contribute to "speeding up implementation of these large Trans-European networks and improving the volume of expenditure on research". On the suggestions put forward by the Commission and the Presidency, the EIB has given itself the objective of providing EUR 100 bio in loans up to 2010 for transport and research (50 bio for each of the two areas). The EIB is also counting on raising capital from sources other than loans through various instruments. The bank has also agreed to study the possibility put forward by the Presidency on a securitisation system.
In compliance with the mandate granted to it by the Ecofin council, the EFC is going to have to focus its study on the following aspects: the consequences of this initiative on the Community budget, as ell as the national budgets (guarantees, subsidies, transfer of income to existing actors and the demands made by the EIB for own funds and reserves; the degree of accomplishing the priority Trans-European networks and the main obstacles to their implementation; the volume of resources form the public and private sectors and the ability to attract public sector funding, the means for optimising the use of Community financial resources and their optimal combination with EIB instruments, the possibility of using novel instruments, use of human resources, appealing to investments from SMES, demands requiring assessment and selection of projects in order to optimise use of capital, the economic and financial viability of the proposals and their potential impact on productivity, competitiveness and long term growth in the EU. The initial wok of the EFC could be examined at the same time as the more detailed proposals from the Commission and the EIB at the Ecofin Council on 7 October. The final EFC report should be examined by Economics and Finance Ministers during their meeting on 25 November in the perspective of the European Council on 12-13 December.