15 Amendments of Luke Ming FLANAGAN related to 2016/2098(INI)
Amendment 4 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 20 a (new)
Citation 20 a (new)
- having regard to the current multiplication of financial instruments designed and promoted by the EIB, from PPPs to securitisation, and the risk such instruments carry to socialise losses and privatise profits,
Amendment 39 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Strongly encourages the EIB to continue its efforts to overcome investment, market and sectoral gaps with a view to possibly fostering transnational added value via greater EU economic and territorial convergence, a stronger investment environment and the return of sustainable growth across the EU;
Amendment 44 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Recalls that supporting economic recovery and sustainable growth is an overarching objective - with major emphasis on the principle of sustainability - and that the EIB should anticipate structural challenges, notably those related to Europe’s re- industrialisation and the knowledge-based and digital economy, in order to generate new economic opportunities, innovation and use of renewables in line with the goals of environmental, climate or energy policies;
Amendment 59 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Believes there is a need to secure a resilient and sustainable EU funding strategy to speed up economic recovery and help certain economic sectors and geographical areas catch up and with that in mind, advises that the focus and emphasis should be on those sectors; recalls the need to focus on investment making a difference; believes that projects should be chosen on the basis of their own merits and effective additionality, possibly with a higher risk profile;
Amendment 91 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22
Paragraph 22
22. Acknowledges the central role of SMEs and mid-caps in the EU economy in terms of employment and growth; encourages the EIB to intensify its support to all kinds of SMEs (start-ups, micro- medium sized businesses, business clusters), with a focus on new business models with high potential job opportunities for young people; asks that the EIB should be proactive in ensuring that Member States are properly implementing EIB policy in the use of funding through subsidiary financial institutions, to avoid the 'gold-plating' effect;
Amendment 104 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27
Paragraph 27
27. NoteRegrets that the EIB already finances investments in R&D by EU security companies where civilian and dual-use technologies are concerned; notes that, as regards dual-use technologies, the EIB is able to support those investments that are motivated by their commercialisation in civilian applications – examples of EIB projects of this type already included R&D investments in aircraft and space supplies, radar systems, cybersecurity and cloud security, microelectronics and vaccines, given that such controversial investments, which contribute to the idea that the EU is building 'fortress Europe', fall outside the remit of the EIB;
Amendment 124 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 33
Paragraph 33
33. Welcomes the EIB’s rapid adaptation capacity to international challenges; but nevertheless calls on the EIB to continueend its support to EU external policies and emergency response related to the global challenge of m, unless the EIB confirms that is acting in strict compliance with the EU Treaty obligration bys, including the development aspect and by promoting economic resilienceArticle 21 TEU on principles of EU external action, and unless also ensuring that its policies and operations are in line with the EU Strategic Framework and Action Plan for Human Rights, and with the European Charter for Fundamental Rights;
Amendment 130 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 34
Paragraph 34
34. Notes that the EFSI aims at leveraging through the EIB a total of EUR 315 billion in extra investment and new projects in the real economy by 2018; observes that 97 infrastructure and innovation projects and 192 SME financing agreements have been approved, representing a total expected investment of EUR 115.7 billion; cautions, however, that given the scale of these new investments, and especially in PPPs and in securitization, the EIB should guard against the added risk of socializing losses while privatizing profits;
Amendment 148 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 47 a (new)
Paragraph 47 a (new)
47a. To reduce the likelihood of conflicts of interest and to enhance transparency in its key operations, recommends the following: 1) that EIB Vice-Presidents should no longer be responsible for projects from their home countries; 2) that the EIB should urgently develop a more effective debarment policy (it currently excludes three entities while lending more than the World Bank, which has debarred 820 entities); 3) that all members of the Board of Directors should make declarations of interests, especially in view of the manifold private-sector interests of some members - these declarations are as much for their protection as they are for the interests of EU citizens; 4) that the EIB should join the EU Transparency Register and require lobbyists' registration for meetings with the President and Vice- Presidents, those registers then to be published; 5) that the EIB should require the publication of beneficial ownership information of all bidders for any EIB- financed procurement; 6) that the EIB should follow the European Commission's calls to support its anti-tax- avoidance agenda;
Amendment 149 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 48
Paragraph 48
48. Invites the EIB to regularly update its risk-mapping of activities and to adapt its risk culture with regard to its recent business model and increasing volume of its portfolio related to the implementation of new instruments with the EFSI, various facilities, investment platforms and risk- sharing instruments; invites the EIB also in that context to include in its risk- mapping non-financial dimensions such as social and/or environmental added- value; welcomes, in that context, the implementation of the EIB’s prudential risk appetite framework in order to reinforce the monitoring of risks and oversight of the origin, ownership and management of risks; recalls the need to develop a single and homogeneous control framework;
Amendment 159 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 53
Paragraph 53
53. Reiterates its call to increase the transparency of the EIB’s interventions when operating with financial intermediaries and beneficiaries in order to avoid counterparts with negative records, blacklisted counterparts and counterparts with potential links with NCJs, offshore activities or organised crime; considers that using criteria for selecting financial intermediaries and having updated information on beneficial ownership of the company, including trusts, foundations and tax havens, are best practices to be permanently followed; also, having updated information on beneficial ownership, in the spirit of the European Anti-Money-Laundering Directive the EIB should make public the beneficial owners of its clients; invites the EIB to further reinforce its contractual conditions by integrating a clause or a reference to good governance in order to mitigate the integrity and reputation risks; calls for a moratorium on support to Investment Funds (Private Equity Funds);
Amendment 160 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 53 – point a (new)
Paragraph 53 – point a (new)
(a) Suggests that, as is done by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) of the World Bank group, the EIB should start disclosing information about high- risk sub-projects it finances via commercial banks (the main intermediaries/financial vehicles used by the EIB to fund SMEs);
Amendment 161 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 54
Paragraph 54
54. Welcomes the regular meetings with civil society and public consultations on the development of the EIB’s policies but asks that these meetings should then bear practical fruit with the EIB ensuring that, together with its clients, those public consultations should especially take place at project level, including via the application of the principle of Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC). It is key that the EIB considers extending the FPIC to all affected communities in land and natural resource-based investments, in order to avoid land-grabbing and expropriations;
Amendment 173 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 57
Paragraph 57
57. Welcomes the review of the rules of the Complaints Mechanism Office (CM Office) with a view to ensuring more independence within the EIB’s structure and improving its effectiveness, as well as of the Memorandum of Understanding between the European Ombudsman and the EIB; with a view also to establishing a mechanism for a systematic flow of information directly between the CM Office and the directors. The EIB management should report annually to the Ombudsman and the Parliament on how the recommendations of its complaints mechanisms have been reflected in the policies and practices of the bank. In addition, the head of the CM Office should present to the European Parliament once a year its activity report and its assessment of how the bank is fulfilling the CM Office recommendations;
Amendment 174 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 58
Paragraph 58
58. AsksRecalls the European Commission 2016 communication 'External Strategy for Effective Taxation' which points out that European legislation prohibits EU funds from being invested in entities in third countries which do not comply with international tax transparency standards and asked the EIB "to pursuetranspose good governance requirements in their contracts with all selected financial intermediaries"; in that light, asks the EIB to go even further in its fight against tax evasion, tax fraud and avoidance, irregular activities and money laundering through its non-transparent and uncooperative jurisdictions (NCJ) policy and the Anti- Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism Framework (AML- CFT); and thus raise the bar in fighting tax evasion by financing only those clients who are totally transparent on that issue;