Activities of Paloma LÓPEZ BERMEJO related to 2014/2156(INI)
Plenary speeches (2)
European Investment Bank annual report 2013 (debate) ES
European Investment Bank annual report 2013 (A8-0057/2015 - Ernest Urtasun) ES
Shadow opinions (1)
OPINION on European Investment Bank - Annual Report 2013
Amendments (26)
Amendment 5 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas all possible resources from the Member States and the EU, including those of the EIB, need to be efficiently mobilised without delay to sustainenhance public and private investments in line with the EU 2020 Strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growthinvestments, supporting projects that promote sustainable growth and quality job creation, as well as infrastructures, particularly in the social, public health and public education sectors;
Amendment 8 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A a (new)
Recital A a (new)
Aa. whereas the economic and financial crisis, coupled with austerity policies, has seriously undermined economic growth in many Member States, leading to rapidly worsening social conditions, steadily growing inequalities and imbalances between European regions and failure to achieve the objective of social cohesion and real convergence, thereby destabilising European integration and democracy;
Amendment 9 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A b (new)
Recital A b (new)
Ab. whereas the EIB is an instrument designed to support social cohesion and is able to provide valuable assistance to Member States facing difficulties in the critical social and economic situation now confronting us; whereas, particularly in view of the shortage of public funding, it is, through increased lending and support for targeted investment projects, in a position to facilitate economic recovery in those Member States that are in financial difficulty and subject to the provisions of fiscal adjustment programmes, as well as helping to iron out social inequalities;
Amendment 10 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas the EIB should continue to play the essential role of catalyst for financing sound public and privatand sustainable long-term investments, whilestriking a balance between maintaining its high profile in terms of credibility in the capital markets, in order to access best funding conditions and satisfying as far as possible the requirement for investment in line with the needs of the real economy and society, so as to ensure compliance with the principles of social efficiency;
Amendment 13 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C
Recital C
C. whereas particular efforts should be made to expand jowe recognize the root cause of the fall int interventions (combining EIF or other guarantee tools) for financing SMEs or tangible and intangible sustainable infravestment and credit is due to the combined effect of reduced public spending and private over-indebtedness, as well as an oligopolistic banking structures;
Amendment 29 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Is deeply concerned at the current situation of economic stalling in the EU, and in particular the significant decline in public and private investment– around 18 % below 2007 levels – and by the staggering 35 % drop in lending to SMEs between 2008 and 2013; underlines that such a decline represents a massive hurdle for a sustainable recovery as well as for genuine social progress towards the EU 2020 objectives;
Amendment 31 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Points out, in that perspective, that national projections demonstrate that nearly half of all Member States will not achieve their national targets on education schemes and greenhouse gas reductions by 2020 and that trends regarding employment and poverty reduction are even worse, moving away rather than towards the national EU 2020 target; calls for economic reinvigoration and an end to austerity policies in all Member States;
Amendment 33 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2a. Points out that austerity measures, neo-liberal structural reforms and budget cuts in many Member States, in particular those under the supervision of the Troika, have led to a historically low level of private investment following a dramatic reduction in purchasing power and flagging demand, accompanied by a widening income divide and worsening poverty;
Amendment 34 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
Amendment 40 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3a. Strongly criticises President Juncker’s investment plan which involves recycling existing funds and seeks to leverage private capital in a ratio of 1:15 in an economic climate characterised by recession and deflation; notes that it does not constitute a reliable investment programme in which new funds support targeted measures and public and productive investments contributing to social progress, the creation of full employment, a reduction in unemployment, the strengthening of quality public services and environmental sustainability;
Amendment 43 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Takes note in that context of the establishment of a Task Force, led by the Commission and the European Investment Bank, with a view to identifying concrete actions to boost investment, including a pipeline of potentially viable projects of European relevance to be realised in the short and medium term; emphasises that this Task Force should explicitly identify hurdles and remedies for increasing investments and; emphasises that this Task Force should not act as in intermediary to subsidise private investment with public guarantees, but actively seek the involvement of Parliament, social partners and CSOs in the development of public investment projects;
Amendment 56 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Underlines that the EIB is called on to play an instrumental role in financing such an EU investment plan; calls, therefore, on the Council, the Commission and the EIB Board of Governors to duly assess the consistency between the new tasks assigned to the EIB within such a plan and the effective needs of the EIB in terms of capital and public guarantees provided to its lending operations, asset purchases and involvement in special-purpose vehiclesand the needs of the European economy;
Amendment 60 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
Amendment 71 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 a (new)
Paragraph 8 a (new)
8a. Regrets the fact that, despite being a public bank, the EIB has a strict banking culture that does not meet the needs of society and the real economy and prevents it from fully playing its essential and aspirational role as a tool oriented towards supporting social cohesion. Economic considerations regarding sound investments with good returns and profits often dominate at the expense of sustainable, environmental and social considerations. It is therefore necessary to strike a new balance between better evaluation and the best possible investment, so that especially in the current critical climate projects that steer the economy towards a path of growth and promote full employment can be supported without hindrance;
Amendment 73 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Stresses that the extra lending capacity resulting from the recent EUR 10 billion EIB capital increase has been underused; urges the Task Force to identify the factors and hurdles behind this situation;
Amendment 78 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Calls on the Commission and the EIB to foster the inclusion of investment in the human capital within its scope of action, especially in Member States with high levels of unemployment and low rates of productivityto boost, by lending, activities designed to achieve full employment and reduce unemployment, support public and productive investments and indispensable infrastructure projects, especially in Member States with high levels of unemployment and low rates of productivity that are facing problems, are subject to stringent fiscal discipline programmes and have been particularly hard hit by the crisis;
Amendment 86 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 a (new)
Paragraph 10 a (new)
10a. Recalls that it is essential that the EIB cooperate with the European Funds especially in those Member States experiencing problems so that productive public investments and essential infrastructure projects can be carried out; regrets the fact that funding from the European Funds to Europe’s regions have been linked with compliance with harsh neoliberal macroeconomic conditions by Member States under the principle of ‘macroeconomic conditionality’, thus condemning them to permanent austerity and under- development;
Amendment 89 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 b (new)
Paragraph 10 b (new)
10b. Points out that investment programmes and growth tools in general must not be undermined by the terms and conditions of the Stability Pact, the economic governance package, the fiscal adjustment programmes and the Memoranda programmes. The new European Fund for Strategic Investments which will operate under the EIB as a special purpose fund must not be linked to the demand for new neoliberal structural reforms in Member States which would aggravate the devastating effects of the austerity programmes;
Amendment 91 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Points out that risk-sharing instruments ultimately involving the provision of public subsidies should only be foreseen where there are market failures generating external costs or for the execution of missions of general inteand diresct such as the provision of public goods and services of general economic interestpublic provision is not available;
Amendment 95 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Points out that any involvement of public resources in risk-sharing instruments and more specifically in first- loss tranches of investment vehicles should either be explicitly linked to the reduction of measurable external negative costs, or the generation of measurable positive external costs or the implementation of public services obligations and services of general economic interest; points out that Article 14 TFEU provides a legal basis for establishing such a link by means of an ordinary legislative proposal;
Amendment 97 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12 a (new)
Paragraph 12 a (new)
12a. Points out the risk of innovative financial instruments and of trying to mobilise private resources to finance major projects and allowing the framework to be set by monopolistic forces and major market players rather than serving the needs of society and the interests of citizens; notes the risk of the privatisation of public infrastructure and that in the event of failure this will lead to society having to defray the losses;
Amendment 112 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Calls, therefore, for a comprehensive evaluation of the pilot projects on the basis of an inclusive and open consultation process that will involve public, national and local bodies; highlights also the need for funded projects to be evaluated in terms of added value, the environment, productivity and jobs; also calls on the Commission to submit, via the ordinary legislative procedure, a legislative proposal which will better frame the future project bond strategy, including an enhancement of the EIB performance indicators framework for quality investment, so as to identify and measure both the impact of the funded projects in terms of external costs and their social and environmental returns;
Amendment 114 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15 a (new)
Paragraph 15 a (new)
15a. Is concerned by the potential generalization of Project Bond Initiatives as a means to reduce costs for private investment, either through lower interest rates or socialization of losses, rather than the more limited scope of providing support to investments of public interest where private investment can be shown to provide indispensable expertise or know- how that is not available to the public sector;
Amendment 155 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23 a (new)
Paragraph 23 a (new)
23a. Calls on the EIB to take all necessary measures to ensure the utmost reliability of financial intermediaries, to enhance transparency in its lending and publish information on the amounts disbursed, the recipients of these funds, the regions and sectors to which they were allocated and the environmental, social and macroeconomic impact of these loans;
Amendment 158 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24 a (new)
Paragraph 24 a (new)
24a. Reminds the EIB that it has a duty, in all its financial transactions, to implement mechanisms to safeguard European environmental, labour, social, human rights, transparency and public procurement standards;
Amendment 162 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25 a (new)
Paragraph 25 a (new)
25 a. Expresses its concern about the lack of transparency regarding the way ‘global loans’ are allocated and monitored in terms of tax governance; recalls that the EIB should ensure that recipients of loans do not evade taxes by availing themselves of tax havens or use other harmful tax practices such as ‘tax rulings' and abusive transfer pricing;