BETA

16 Amendments of Henna VIRKKUNEN related to 2023/0199(COD)

Henna VIRKKUNEN

Proposal for a regulation
Recital 7

(7) The STEP should identify resources which should be implemented within the existing Union programmes and funds, the InvestEU, Horizon Europe, European Defence Fund and Innovation Fund. This should be accompanied by providing additional funding of EUR 10 billion. Of this, EUR 5 billion should be used to increase the endowment of the Innovation Fund46 and EUR 3 billion to increase the total amount of the EU guarantee available for the EU compartment under the InvestEU Regulation to EUR 7,5 billion,47 taking into account the relevant provisioning rate. EUR 0.5 billion should be made available to increase the financial envelope under the Horizon Europe Regulation,48 which should be amended accordingly; and EUR 1.5 billion to the European Defence Fund.49 _________________ 46 Directive 2003/87/EC establishing a scheme for greenhouse gas emission allowance trading (OJ L 275, 25.10.2003, p. 32). 47 Regulation (EU) 2021/523 establishing the InvestEU Programme (OJ L 107, 26.3.2021, p. 30). 48 Regulation (EU) 2021/695 establishing Horizon Europe (OJ L 170, 12.5.2021, p. 1). 49 Regulation (EU) 2021/697 establishing the European Defense Fund (OJ L 170, 12.5.2021, p. 149.)

2023/09/08
Committee: BUDG ITRE

Henna VIRKKUNEN

Proposal for a regulation
Recital 11

(11) While the STEP relies on the reprogramming ~~and reinforcement~~ of existing programmes for supporting strategic investments, it is also an important element for testing the feasibility and preparation of new interventions as a step towards a European Sovereignty Fund. ~~The evaluation in 2025 will assess the relevance of the actions undertaken and serve as basis for assessing the need for an upscaling of the support towards strategic sectors.~~

2023/09/08
Committee: BUDG ITRE

Henna VIRKKUNEN

Proposal for a regulation
Recital 12

(12) Directive 2003/87/EC54 should be amended to allow for additional financing with a financial envelope for the period 2024-2027 of EUR 5 billion. The Innovation Fund supports investments in innovative low-carbon technologies, which is a scope that is to be covered by the STEP. The increase in volume of the Innovation Fund should therefore allow to provide financing responding to the objective of supporting the development or manufacturing in the Union of critical clean technologies. In line with the objectives of ensuring cohesion and promoting the Single Market, and in order to support the green transition and the development of clean technologies throughout the Union, the additional financial envelope should be made available through calls for proposals open to entities from Member States whose average GDP per capita is below the EU average of the EU-27 measured in purchasing power standards (PPS) and calculated on the basis of Union figures for the period 2015-2017. _________________ 54 Directive 2003/87/EC establishing a scheme for greenhouse gas emission allowance trading (OJ L 275, 25.10.2003, p. 32).deleted

2023/09/08
Committee: BUDG ITRE

Henna VIRKKUNEN

Proposal for a regulation
Recital 19

(19) InvestEU is the EU flagship programme to boost investment, especially the green and digital transition, by providing demand-driven financing, including through blending mechanisms, and technical assistance. Such approach contributes to crowd in additional public and private capital. Given the high market demand of InvestEU guarantee, the EU compartment of InvestEU should be reinforced to correspond to the objectives of the STEP. This will, among other things, reinforce InvestEU’s existing possibility to invest in projects forming part of an IPCEI, within the identified critical technology sectors. In addition, Member States are encouraged to contribute to the InvestEU Member State compartment to support financial products in line with the STEP objectives, without prejudice to applicable State aid rules. It should be possible for Member States to include as a measure in their recovery and resilience plans a cash contribution for the purpose of the Member State compartment of InvestEU to support objectives of the STEP. That additional contribution to support objectives of the STEP could reach up to 6% of their recovery and resilience plan’s total financial allocation to the Member State compartment of InvestEU. Additional flexibility and clarifications should also be introduced to better pursue the objectives of the STEP.

2023/09/08
Committee: BUDG ITRE

Henna VIRKKUNEN

Proposal for a regulation
Recital 20

(20) Horizon Europe is the EU’s key funding programme for research and innovation, and its European Innovation Council (EIC) provides for support for innovations with potential breakthrough and disruptive nature with scale-up potential that may be too risky for private investors. Additional flexibility should be provided for under Horizon Europe, so that the EIC Accelerator can provide equity- only support to non-bankable SMEs, including start-ups, and non-bankable SMEs and small mid-caps, carrying out innovation in the technologies supported by the STEP and regardless of whether they previously received other types of support from the EIC Accelerator. The implementation of the EIC Fund is currently limited to a maximum investment amount of EUR 15 million except in exceptional cases and cannot accommodate follow-on financing rounds or larger investment amounts. Allowing for equity- only support for non-bankable SMEs and small mid-caps would address the existing market gap with investments needs in the range of EUR 15 to 50 million. Moreover, experience has shown that the amounts committed for the EIC Pilot under Horizon2020 are not fully used. These unused funds should be made available for the purposes of the EIC Accelerator under Horizon Europe. The Horizon Europe Regulation should also be amended to reflect the increased envelope for the European Defence Fund.

2023/09/08
Committee: BUDG ITRE

Henna VIRKKUNEN

Proposal for a regulation
Recital 21

(21) The European Defence Fund is the leading programme for enhancing the competitiveness, innovation, efficiency and technological autonomy of the Union’s defence industry, thereby contributing to the Union’s open strategic autonomy. The development of defence capabilities is crucial, as it underpins the capacity and the autonomy of the European industry to develop defence products and the independence of Member States as the end- users of such products. ~~The additional envelope should therefore be made available to support actions in the field of deep and digital technologies contributing to the development of defence applications.~~

2023/09/08
Committee: BUDG ITRE

Henna VIRKKUNEN

Proposal for a regulation
Article 3

1. Implementation of the Platform shall be supported, in particular, through: (a) a Union guarantee referred to in Article 4(1) of Regulation (EU) 2021/523 with the indicative amount of EUR 7 500 000 000 That guarantee shall be implemented in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2021/523; (b) an amount of EUR 500 000 000 in current prices of the financial envelope referred to in point (i) of Article 12(2)(c) of Regulation (EU) 2021/695. That amount shall be implemented in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2021/695; (c) an amount of EUR 5 000 000 000 in current prices of the financial envelope referred to in the sixth subparagraph of Article 10a(8) of Directive 2003/87/EC. That amount shall be implemented within the Innovation Fund in accordance with the rules of Article 10a(8) of Directive 2003/87/EC and Commission Delegated Regulation [2019/856]. (d) An amount of EUR 1 500 000 000 in current prices of the financial envelope refered to in Article 4(1) of Regulation (EU) 2021/697. That amount shall be implemented in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2021/697. 2. The amounts referred to in the paragraph 1 shall be used with the aim of achieving the objectives referred to in Article 2.Article 3 deleted Financial Support

2023/09/08
Committee: BUDG ITRE

Henna VIRKKUNEN

Proposal for a regulation
Article 8 – paragraph 2

2. The evaluation report shall, in particular, assess to which extent the objectives have been achieved, the efficiency of the use of the resources and the European added value. ~~It shall also consider the continued relevance of all objectives and actions, in view of their potential upscaling.~~

2023/09/08
Committee: BUDG ITRE

Henna VIRKKUNEN

Proposal for a regulation
Article 9

Directive 2003/87/EC
Article 10 – subsection a – point 8 – sixth subparagraph

Amendments to Directive 2003/87/EC Directive 2003/87/EC is amended as follows: (1) In Article 10a(8), the following sixth subparagraph is inserted: ‘‘In addition to the allowances referred to in the first to fifth subparagraphs of this paragraph, the Innovation Fund shall also implement a financial envelope for the period from 1 January 2024 to 31 December 2027 of EUR 5 000 000 000 in current prices for supporting investments contributing to the STEP objective referred to in Article 2, point (a)(ii) of Regulation .../...63 [STEP Regulation]. This financial envelope shall be made available to support investments only in Member States whose average GDP per capita is below the EU average of the EU- 27 measured in purchasing power standards (PPS) and calculated on the basis of Union figures for the period 2015-2017 _________________ 63 Regulation …/… of the European Parliament and of the Council … [insert full title and OJ reference].rticle 9 deleted [ETS]

2023/09/08
Committee: BUDG ITRE

Henna VIRKKUNEN

Proposal for a regulation
Article 16 – paragraph 1 – point 2 – point a

Regulation (EU) 2021/523
Article 4 – paragraph 1 – first subparagraph

(a) In paragraph 1, the first subparagraph is replaced by the following: ‘The EU guarantee for the purposes of the EU compartment referred to in Article 9(1), point (a), shall be EUR 33 652 310 073 in current prices. It shall be provisioned at the rate of 40 %. The amount referred to in Article 35(3), first subparagraph, point (a), shall be also taken into account for contributing to the provisioning resulting from that provisioning rate.;’deleted

2023/09/08
Committee: BUDG ITRE

Henna VIRKKUNEN

Proposal for a regulation
Article 16 – paragraph 1 – point 2 – point b Regulation (EU) 2021/523

(b) paragraph 2, second subparagraph is replaced by the following: ‘An amount of EUR 18 827 310 073 in current prices of the amount referred to in the first subparagraph of paragraph 1 of this Article shall be allocated for the objectives referred to in Article 3(2).;’deleted

2023/09/08
Committee: BUDG ITRE

Henna VIRKKUNEN

Proposal for a regulation
Article 16 – paragraph 1 – point 6

Regulation 2021/523
Article 13 – paragraph 4

(6) Article 13(4) is replaced by the following: ‘4. At least 75 % of the EU guarantee under the EU compartment as referred to in Article 4(1), first subparagraph, amounting to at least EUR 25 239 232 554, shall be granted to the EIB Group. The EIB Group shall provide an aggregate financial contribution amounting to at least EUR 6 309 808 138. That contribution shall be provided in a manner and form that facilitates the implementation of the InvestEU Fund and the achievement of the objectives set out in Article 15(2).;’deleted

2023/09/08
Committee: BUDG ITRE

Henna VIRKKUNEN

Proposal for a regulation
Article 16 – paragraph 1 – point 12

Regulation 2021/523
Annex I – point e

~~(12) In Annex I, point (e) is added as follows: ‘(e) up to EUR 7 500 000 000 for objectives referred to in Article 3(2), point (e).’~~deleted

2023/09/08
Committee: BUDG ITRE

Henna VIRKKUNEN

Proposal for a regulation
Article 17 – paragraph 1 – point 1

Regulation (EU) 2021/695
Article 12 – paragraph 1

(1) Article 12 is amended as follows: (a) paragraph 1 is replaced by the following: ‘1. The financial envelope for the implementation of the Programme for the period from 1 January 2021 to 31 December 2027 shall be EUR 86 623 000 000 in current prices for the specific programme referred to in point (a) of Article 1(2) and for the EIT and EUR 9 453 000 000 in current prices for the specific programme referred to in point (c) of Article 1(2).’ ‘(b) EUR 46 628 000 000 for Pillar II 'Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness' for the period 2021 to 2027, of which: (i) EUR 6 775 000 000 for cluster 'Health'; (ii) EUR 1 350 000 000for cluster 'Culture, Creativity and Inclusive Society'; (iii) EUR 1 276 000 000 for cluster 'Civil Security for Society'; (iv) EUR 13 229 000 000 for cluster 'Digital, Industry and Space'; (v) EUR 13 229 000 000 for cluster 'Climate, Energy and Mobility'; (vi) EUR 8 799 000 000 for cluster 'Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment'; (vii) EUR 1 970 000 000 for the non- nuclear direct actions of the JRC; (c) EUR 13 237 000 000 for Pillar III 'Innovative Europe' for the period 2021 to 2027, of which: (i) EUR 10 052 000 000 for the EIC; (ii) EUR 459 000 000 for European innovation ecosystems; (iii) EUR 2 726 000 000 for the EIT;’deleted

2023/09/08
Committee: BUDG ITRE

Henna VIRKKUNEN

Proposal for a regulation
Article 17 – paragraph 1 – point 2 Regulation 2021/695

(2) In Article 46, the following paragraph 4a is inserted: ‘‘4a. By derogation from Article 209(3) of the Financial Regulation, repayments including reimbursed advances, revenues and unused amounts net of fees and costs of EIC blended finance of the EIC pilot under Horizon 2020 shall be considered to be internal assigned revenues in accordance with Article 21(3), point (f) and Article 21(4) and (5) of the Financial Regulation. The time restriction of two years set out in the second subparagraph of Article 209(3) of the Financial Regulation shall apply as from the date of entry into force of Regulation .../...69 [STEP Regulation].’ _________________ 69 Regulation …/… of the European Parliament and of the Council … [insert full title and OJ reference].deleted

2023/09/08
Committee: BUDG ITRE

Henna VIRKKUNEN

Proposal for a regulation
Article 18

Regulation 2021/697
Article 4

Amendments to Regulation (EU) Regulation (EU) 2021/697 is amended as follows: (1) Article 4 is amended as follows (a) Paragraph 1 is replaced by the following: ‘1. In accordance with Article 12(1) of Regulation (EU) 2021/695, the financial envelope for the implementation of the Fund for the period from 1 January 2021 to 31 December 2027 shall be EUR 9 453 000 000 in current prices. ‘(a) EUR 3 151 000 000 for research actions; (b) EUR 6 302 000 000 for development actions. ‘‘An amount of EUR 1 500 000 000 in current prices of the amount referred to in paragraph 2 shall be allocated to calls for proposals or awards of funding supporting investments contributing to the STEP objectives referred to in Article 2(1), point (a)(i) of Regulation .../...70 [STEP Regulation]. _________________ 70 Regulation …/… of the European Parliament and of the Council … [insert full title and OJ reference].rticle 18 deleted 2021/697 [EDF]

2023/09/08
Committee: BUDG ITRE