Brussels, 14/03/2006 (Agence Europe) - Speaking to the press on Tuesday 14 March, the president-in-office of the Ecofin Council, Karl-Heinz Grasser, said they wished to give a “clear signal to the 17 million unemployed persons in Europe” to show that they are all working for “more growth, more jobs and less unemployment”. The 25 ministers adopted several reports that make up their contribution to the European Council on 23 and 24 March. The first document is on the elements that it considers fundamental for reactivating the Lisbon Strategy. The second concerns the contribution made by the European Investment Bank (EIB) to foster growth and employment in the context of the Lisbon Strategy. The Ecofin Council also adopted a third report on the “better regulation” initiative intended to reduce costs weighing on small and medium-sized enterprises (SME). A fourth document adopted today deals with social protection and insertion.
The Ecofin Council's “key issues paper” follows the Commission's progress report on the Lisbon Strategy which analyses the national reform programmes. It identifies the following priorities which are to: - use the improvement in the economic situation to pursue tax consolidation; - improve the sustainability and quality of public finance; - increase employment in Europe; - encourage innovation; - create an environment that is favourable for SMEs; - and ensure a coherent European energy policy in a global context (see related article).
“The EIB becomes a sort of bank for European growth”, Karl-Heinz Grasser said. Philippe Maystadt, EIB President, explained to the press that the EIB will step up its participation in two fields: “research, development and innovation” as well as “the major transport infrastructures”, including investment in energy supply security and efficiency and in the trans-European networks. The EIB's contribution is based on “three basic ideas”, he added. In his view, it is not a question of just lending more but of “creating conditions so that the EIB can lend when the risk is greater”. In practical terms, the EIB will set up the Risk Sharing Finance Facility, which will make it possible to constitute special funding provision to encourage heavy-risk lending (see EUROPE 9146). If we manage to raise “EUR 2 billion”, the EIB president said, then “we shall be able to lend for at least EUR 10 billion”. The second idea consists of creating a leverage effect: mobilisation of funding from the Community budget and EIB own resources must allow other financing to be raised more easily, especially from other banks and private funds. Finally, Mr Maystadt pointed out that the EIB must be able to develop “technical assistance” with the EBRD in setting up projects, especially intended for the new Member States. He spoke of collaboration with the Directorate General for Regional Policy at the Commission in the context of the JASPERS project, as well as the creation “in coming months” of a “European centre of expertise for public-private partnerships”.
The Ecofin Council has held an exchange of views on progress made within the framework of the “better regulation” initiative. It notes a paper from the Austrian EU presidency on the reduction of administrative costs inherent to Community programmes and measures and on national experience in this field. It notes that progress has been made toward signing an interinstitutional agreement that would define a common approach on impact studies. The Ecofin Council also welcomes the adoption by the last Employment and Social Affairs Council of a report on social protection and insertion in the field of retirement and healthcare (see EUROPE 9149).