Activities of Liadh NÍ RIADA related to 2018/0229(COD)
Plenary speeches (1)
Establishing the InvestEU Programme (debate) GA
Shadow reports (1)
REPORT on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing the InvestEU Programme PDF (1 MB) DOC (351 KB)
Amendments (50)
Amendment 142 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 1
Recital 1
(1) With 1.8% of EU GDP, down from 2.2% in 2009, infrastructure investment activities in the Union in 2016 were about 20% below investment rates before the global financial crisis. Thus, while a recovery in investment-to-GDP ratios in the Union can be observed, it remains below what might be expected in a strong recovery period and is insufficient to compensate years of underinvestment. According to the most recent data on national accounts, there no indication of a significant surge in investment since the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) was launched, while growth is unevenly distributed among Member States and mainly export led. More importantly, the current investment levels and forecasts do not cover the Union’s structural investment needs in the face of technological change and global competitiveness, including for innovation, skills, infrastructure, small and medium- sized enterprises ('SMEs') and the need to address key societal challenges such as sustainability or population ageing. Consequently, continued support is necessary to address market failures and sub-optimal investment situations to reduce the investment gap in targeted sectors to achieve the Union's policy objectives.
Amendment 146 #
(1a) Acknowledges that one of the main barrier to business investment is the lack of demand resulting from austerity measures, that provoked a sharp drop in workers’ disposable income and in public consumption and investment; believes that only an increase in workers’ income and ambitious public investment will be able to avoid risks of continued weak growth, or even recession, and continuing high unemployment rates; urges to an immediate reverse of the austerity measures, repeal the budget deficit and public debt limits and create a broad public investment plan;
Amendment 151 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 3
Recital 3
(3) In the last years, the Union has adopted ambitious strategies to complete the Single Market and to stimulate sustainable growth and jobs, such as the Capital Markets Union, the Digital Single Market Strategy, the Clean Energy for all Europeans package, the Union Action Plan for the Circular Economy, the Low- Emission Mobility Strategy, the Defence and the Space Strategy for Europe with limited results in tackling regional and social inequalities. The InvestEU Fund should exploit and reinforce synergies between those mutually reinforcing strategies through providing support to investment and access to financing.
Amendment 157 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 4
Recital 4
(4) At Union level, the European Semester of economic policy coordination is the framework to identify national reform priorities and monitor their implementation. Member States develop their own national multiannual investment strategies in support of those reform priorities. The strategies should be presented alongside the yearly National Reform Programmes as a way to outline and coordinate priority investment projects to be supported by national or Union funding, or by both. Theyse strategies should also serve to use Union funding in a coherent manner and to maximise the added value of the financial support to be received notably from the European Structural and Investment Funds, the European Investment Stabilisation Function and the InvestEU Fund, where relevant.
Amendment 159 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 5
Recital 5
(5) The InvestEU Fund should contribute to improving the competitiveness of the Union, including in the field of innovation and digitisation, the sustainability of the Union's economic growth, the social resilience and inclusiveness and the integration of the Union capital markets, including solutions addressing their fragmentation and diversifying sources of financing for the Union enterprisbe geared to social, economic and territorial cohesion and be capable of helping to increase aggregate demand and carry out investment in public infrastructure, which may subsequently leverage and boost private investment. Only a plan of this nature can be effective in reviving growth, fighting unemployment and combating inequalities. To that end, it should supportfavour projects that are technically and economically viable by providing a framework for the use of debt, risk sharing and equity instruments underpinned by a guarantee from the Union's budget and by contributions from implementing partners. It should be demand-driven while support under the InvestEU Fund should at the same time focus on contributing to meeting policy objectives of the Union. and to encourage social and regional cohesion through the creation of quality jobs and the broadening and improvement of the productive base of Member States, especially those facing severe economic imbalances, suffering from austerity measures and undergoing violent structural adjustments;
Amendment 177 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 6
Recital 6
(6) The InvestEU Fund should support investments in tangible and intangible assets, including cultural heritage and tourism to foster growth, investment and employment, and thereby contributing to improved well-being and fairer income distribution in the Union. Intervention through the InvestEU Fund should complement Union support delivered through grants.
Amendment 179 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 6 a (new)
Recital 6 a (new)
(6a) Additionality, a key feature of the EFSI, should be strengthened in the InvestEU selection criteria. In particular, operations should only be eligible if they address clearly identified market failures or sub-optimal investment situations. InvestEU should not support public- private in infrastructure, given that these are in general more expensive for taxpayers and consumers.
Amendment 206 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 13
Recital 13
(13) Low infrastructure investment rates in the Union during the financial crisis along with recessive economic policies and further cuts to public investments, undermined the Union's ability to boost sustainable growth, competitiveness and convergence. Sizeable investments in the European infrastructure are fundamental to meet the Union's social standards for employment, inequalities and sustainability targets, including the 2030 energy and climate targets as well as the Paris Agreement goals. Accordingly, support from the InvestEU Fund should target investments into transport, insularity, energy, including energy efficiency and renewable energy, environmental, climate action, maritime and digital infrastructure. To ensure the maximum public control and transparency on those targets, the process should embody maximum transparency and accountability standards. To maximise the impact and the value added of Union financing support, it is appropriate to promote a streamlined investment process enabling visibility of the project pipeline and consistency across relevant Union programmes. Bearing in mind security threats, investment projects receiving Union support should take into account principles for the protection of citizens in public spaces. This should be complementary to the efforts made by other Union funds such as the European Regional Development Fund providing support for security components of investments in public spaces, transport, energy and other critical infrastructure.
Amendment 217 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 16
Recital 16
(16) Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) play a crucial role in the Union. However, they face challenges when accessing finance because of their perceived high risk and lack of sufficient collateral. Additional challenges arise from SMEs' needthe need of SMEs and social economy enterprises, to stay competitive by engaging in digitisation, internationalisation and innovation activities and skilling up their workforce. Moreover, compared to larger enterprises, they have access to a more limited set of financing sources: they typically do not issue bonds, have only limited access to stock exchanges or large institutional investors. The challenge in accessing finance is even greater for those SMEs whose activities focus on intangible assets. SMEs in the Union rely heavily on banks and debt financing in the form of bank overdrafts, bank loans or leasing. Supporting SMEs that face the above challenges and providing more diversified sources of funding is necessary for increasing the ability of SMEs to finance their creation, growth and development, withstand economic downturns, and for making the economy and the financial system more resilient during economic downturn or shocks. This is also complementary to the initiatives alread and capable of creating quality uandertaken in the context of the Capital Markets Union long-term jobs and social prosperity. Particular attention should be paid to social enterprises. The InvestEU Fund should provide an opportunity to focus on specific, more targeted financial products.
Amendment 227 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 19
Recital 19
Amendment 237 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 20
Recital 20
Amendment 252 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 24
Recital 24
(24) The EU guarantee underpinning the InvestEU Fund should be implemented indirectly by the Commission relying on implementing partners with outreach to final recipients. A guarantee agreement allocating guarantee capacity from the InvestEU Fund should be concluded by the Commission with each implementing partner, to support its financing and investment operations meeting the InvestEU Fund objectives and eligibility criteria. TIn order to improve transparency, efficiency, accountability and ensure the appropriate use of the EU guarantee, the InvestEU Fund should be provided with a specific governance structure to ensure the appropriate use of the EU guarantee, completely separate from that of the EIB Group.
Amendment 273 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 27
Recital 27
Amendment 281 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 29
Recital 29
(29) In selecting implementing partners for the deployment of the InvestEU Fund, the Commission should consider the counterpart's capacity to fulfil the objectives of the InvestEU Fund and contribute its own resources, in order to ensure adequate geographical coverage and diversification, to avoid disproportionate benefit to larger Member States with more developed capital markets to crowd-in private investors and to provide sufficient risk diversification as well as new solutions to address market failures and sub-optimal investment situations. Given its role under the Treaties, its capacity to operate in all Member States and the existing experience under the current financial instruments and the EFSI, the European Investment Bank (‘EIB’) Group should remain a privileged implementing partner under the InvestEU Fund's EU compartment. In addition to the EIB Group, national promotional banks or institutions should be able to offer a complementary financial product range given that their experience and capabilities at regional level could be beneficial for the maximisation of the impact of public funds on the territory of the Union. Moreover, it should be possible to have other international financial institutions as implementing partners, in particular when they present a comparative advantage in terms of specific expertise and experience in certain Member States. It should also be possible for other entities fulfilling the criteria laid down in the Financial Regulation to act as implementing partners.
Amendment 293 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 30
Recital 30
(30) In order to ensure that interventions under the EU compartment of the InvestEU Fund focus on market failures and sub-optimal investment situations at Union level, but, at the same time, satisfy the objectives of best possible geographic outreach, and avoid disproportionate benefit to larger Member States with more developed capital markets, the EU guarantee should be allocated to implementing partners, which alone or together with other implementing partners, can cover at least three Member States. However, it is expected that around 75 % of the EU guarantee under the EU compartment would be allocated to implementing partner or partners that can offer financial products under the InvestEU Fund in all Member States.
Amendment 300 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 31
Recital 31
Amendment 311 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 36
Recital 36
(36) In order to ensure a wide geographic outreach of the advisory services across the Union and to successfully leverage local knowledge about the InvestEU Fund, a local presence in each Member State and in regions of the InvestEU Advisory Hub should be ensured, where needed, taking into account existing support schemes, with a view to provide tangible, proactive, tailor-made assistance on the ground.
Amendment 317 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 40
Recital 40
(40) A solid monitoring framework, based on output, outcome and impact indicators should be implemented to track progress towards the Union's objectives. In order to ensure accountability to European citizens, the Commission should report annually to the European Parliament and, the Council and the Member-States on the progress, impact and operations of the InvestEU Programme. As a result an Annual Report will have to be produced and be accessible to all Member States as they are the initial stakeholders.
Amendment 320 #
(45a) The investments under InvestEU should be safe and maintain sound financial management, therefore anti- fraud policies should be ensured and further enhanced. Special provisions should be defined to exclude off-shore companies and companies based in “non- cooperating” countries. Cooperation with the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) and the European Court of Auditors should be ensured to that end.
Amendment 325 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 1 – paragraph 1
Article 1 – paragraph 1
This Regulation establishes the InvestEU Fund providing for an EU guarantee for financing and investment operations carried out by the implementing partners in support of the Union’s internal policies.
Amendment 341 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 7
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 7
(7) 'implementing partner' means the eligible counterpart such as a financial institution or other intermediarybeing the European Investment Bank (EIB) Group, or national promotional banks or institutions with whom the Commission signs a guarantee agreement and/or an agreement to implement the InvestEU Advisory Hub;
Amendment 349 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 12
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 12
Amendment 351 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 15
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 15
Amendment 356 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 3 – paragraph 1 – point a
Article 3 – paragraph 1 – point a
(a) the competitiveness of the Unsocial and regional cohesion, including innovation and digitisation;
Amendment 371 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 3 – paragraph 1 – point d
Article 3 – paragraph 1 – point d
(d) the integration of the Union capital markets and the strengthening of the Single Market, including solutions addressing the fragmentation of the Union capital markets,addressing diversifying sources of financing for Union enterprises and promoting sustainable finance.
Amendment 375 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 3 – paragraph 2 – point c
Article 3 – paragraph 2 – point c
(c) to increase the access to and the availability of finance for SMEs and, in duly justified cases, for small mid-cap companies;
Amendment 380 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 3 – paragraph 2 – point d
Article 3 – paragraph 2 – point d
(d) to increase the access to and the availability of microfinance and finance tofor SMEs, social enterprises, support financing and investment operations related to social investment and skills and develop and consolidate social investment markets, in the areas referred to in point (d) of Article 7(1).
Amendment 389 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 4 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 1 a (new)
Article 4 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 1 a (new)
The EIB shall report annually to the European Parliament on the functioning of the guarantee.
Amendment 392 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 4 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 2
Article 4 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 2
An additional amount of the EU guarantee may be provided for the purposes of the Member State compartment referred to in point (b) of Article 8(1), subject to the allocation by Member States, pursuant to [Article 10(1)] of Regulation [[CPR] number]28 and Article [75(1)] of Regulation [[CAP plan] number]29 , of the corresponding amounts. The InvestEU programme shall aim at covering the highest risk tranche for the projects that are financed with an additional amount.
Amendment 409 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 7 – paragraph 1 – point a
Article 7 – paragraph 1 – point a
(a) sustainable infrastructure policy window: comprises sustainable investment in the areas of transport, energy, digital connectivity, cultural heritage supply and processing of raw materials, space, oceans and water, waste, nature and other environment infrastructure, equipment, mobile assets and deployment of innovative technologies that contribute to the environmental or social sustainability objectives of the Union, or to both, or meet the environmental or social sustainability standards of the Union;
Amendment 419 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 7 – paragraph 1 – point d
Article 7 – paragraph 1 – point d
(d) social investment and skills policy window: comprises microfinance, social enterprise finance and social economy and gender equality and active participation of women and vulnerable groups; skills, education, training and related services; social infrastructure (including social and student housing); social innovation; health and long-term care; inclusion and accessibility; cultural activities with a social goal; integration of vulnerable people, including third country nationals.
Amendment 424 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 7 – paragraph 3 – subparagraph 1
Article 7 – paragraph 3 – subparagraph 1
Financing and investment operations under the sustainable infrastructure policy window referred to in point (a) of paragraph (1) shall be subject to climate, environmental and social sustainability proofing with a view to minimise detrimental impacts and maximise benefits on climate, environment and social dimension. For that purpose, promoters requesting financing shall provide adequate information based on guidance to be developed by the Commission and avoiding any operations involving intensive fossil fuel infrastructures. Projects below a certain size defined in the guidance shall be excluded from the proofing.
Amendment 450 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 8
Article 8
Amendment 472 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 9
Article 9
Amendment 540 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 12 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 2
Article 12 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 2
Amendment 542 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 12 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 3
Article 12 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 3
Amendment 546 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 12 – paragraph 2 – point d
Article 12 – paragraph 2 – point d
(d) achieves geographical diversification by Member State and by region;
Amendment 561 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 14 – paragraph 5
Article 14 – paragraph 5
Amendment 606 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 18
Article 18
Amendment 670 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 19 – paragraph 5 – subparagraph 2
Article 19 – paragraph 5 – subparagraph 2
Conclusions of the Investment Committee approving the support of the EU guarantee to a financing or investment operation shall be publicly accessible and shall include the rationale for the approval. The publication shall not contain commercially sensitive informat, the criteria applied and the scoreboard of indicators. Particular focus should be given to compliance with the additionality criterion.
Amendment 678 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 19 – paragraph 5 – subparagraph 4
Article 19 – paragraph 5 – subparagraph 4
Twice a year, the conclusions of the Investment Committee rejecting the use of the EU guarantee shall be transmitted to the European Parliament and to the Council,, the criteria applied and the scoreboard indicators related to the Investment Committee shall submit to the European Parliament, the Council and the Member States participating in the InvestEU, a list of all the conclusions as well as the scoreboards relating to all those decisions, that submission shall be subject to strict confidentiality requirements.
Amendment 705 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 20 – paragraph 6
Article 20 – paragraph 6
6. The InvestEU Advisory Hub shall have local presence, where necessary. It shall be established in particular in on each Member States orand in regions that face difficulties in developing projects under the InvestEU Fund. The InvestEU Advisory Hub shall assist in the transfer of knowledge to the regional and local level with a view to building up regional and local capacity and expertise for support referred to in paragraph 1 and to implement and accommodate small projects. The Commission shall sign separate agreement with the financial institutions or other intermediaries, with a view to designating them as Advisory Hub partners and charging them with the implementation of the InvestEU Advisory Hub on the ground. The Advisory hub shall have local presence to all participating Member-States and regions, especially when difficulties occur in developing projects under the InvestEU fund.
Amendment 733 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 23 – paragraph 2
Article 23 – paragraph 2
2. By 30 September 2025, the Commission shall carry out an interim evaluation on the InvestEU Programme, in particular on the use of the EU guarantee. In particular, the evaluation shall demonstrate how the inclusion of the implementing partners has contributed to the achievements of the InvestEU programme targets, as well as EU policy goals, especially with regard to geographical and sectoral balance of the supported financing and investment operations.
Amendment 748 #
Proposal for a regulation
Annex I – paragraph 1 – point a
Annex I – paragraph 1 – point a
(a) up to EUR 11 5000 000 000 for objectives referred to in point (a) of Article 3(2);
Amendment 752 #
Proposal for a regulation
Annex I – paragraph 1 – point b
Annex I – paragraph 1 – point b
(b) up to EUR 11 25000 000 000 for objectives referred to in point (b) of Article 3(2);
Amendment 756 #
Proposal for a regulation
Annex I – paragraph 1 – point c
Annex I – paragraph 1 – point c
(c) up to EUR 11 25000 000 000 for objectives referred to in point (c) of Article 3(2);
Amendment 808 #
Proposal for a regulation
Annex II – paragraph 1 – point 12
Annex II – paragraph 1 – point 12
Amendment 809 #
Proposal for a regulation
Annex II – paragraph 1 – point 13 – introductory part
Annex II – paragraph 1 – point 13 – introductory part
13. Space, in particular through the development of the space sector with an exclusive focus on civil applications in line with Space Strategy objectives:
Amendment 810 #
Proposal for a regulation
Annex II – paragraph 1 – point 13 – point d
Annex II – paragraph 1 – point 13 – point d
(d) to foster Union's autonomy for safe and secure access to space, including dual use aspects.
Amendment 811 #
Proposal for a regulation
Annex III – point 2 – point 2.1 a (new)
Annex III – point 2 – point 2.1 a (new)
2.1a Number of regions covered by projects;