BETA

16 Amendments of Edward CZESAK related to 2016/0276(COD)

Proposal for a regulation
Recital 8

(8) The extended EFSI should address remaining market failures and sub-optimal investment situations and continue to mobilise private sector financing in investments crucial for Europe’s future job creation – including for the youth –, growth and competitiveness with strengthened additionality. They include investments in the areas of energy, environment and climate action, social and human capital and related infrastructure, healthcare, research and innovation, cross- border and sustainable transport, as well as the digital transformation. In particular, the contribution of operations supported by the EFSI to achieving the Union’s ambitious targets set at the Paris Climate Conference (COP21) should be reinforced. This would be in line with EIB’s current climate finance target of 25% based on its full portfolio and computed according to its granular methodology. Energy interconnection priority projects and energy efficiency projects should also be increasingly targeted. In addition, EFSI support to motorways should be avoided, unless it is needed to support private investment in transport in cohesion countries or in cross-border transport projects involving at least one cohesion country. For reasons of clarity, although they are already eligible, it should be explicitly laid down that projects in the fields of agriculture, fishery and aquaculture come within the general objectives eligible for EFSI support.

2017/03/02
Committee: ITRE

Proposal for a regulation
Recital 9

(9) Additionality, a key feature of the EFSI, should be strengthened in the selection of projects. In particular, operations should only be eligible for EFSI support if they address clearly identified market failures or sub-optimal investment situations. Operations in infrastructure under the Infrastructure and Innovation Window linking two or more Member States, including e-infrastructure, should be considered additional given their inherent difficulty and their high added value for the Union. The EIB has already developed a wide range of products that facilitate further risk-taking through, predominantly, risk-sharing instruments. However, developing further ‘first loss guarantee’ schemes by combining EU and/ or national budgetary resources with EFSI is expected to accelerate investments in infrastructure projects.

2017/03/02
Committee: ITRE

Proposal for a regulation
Recital 9 a (new)

(9a) Transparency in the eligibility, approval and the selection of projects is an essential condition and is to be reflected in the governance structure of the decision-making process. It is therefore important to continually confirm the accountability of the decision- takers in order to ensure that any difficulties in the implementation of Regulation (EU) No 2015/1017 are not repeated in this Regulation. Moreover, the Commission should work closely with the EIB in the formation of pre-defined, clear, objective and publicly-available criteria that reduce legal uncertainty and improve tax governance, especially when the investment activities involve entities with links to non-cooperative jurisdictions.

2017/03/02
Committee: ITRE

Proposal for a regulation
Recital 10

(10) Due to their potential to increase the efficiency of the EFSI intervention, blending operations combining non- reimbursable forms of support and/or financial instruments from the Union budget, such as those available under the Connecting Europe Facility, and financing from EIB Group, including EIB financing under the EFSI, as well as other investors should be encouraged. Blending aims to enhance the value added of Union spending by attracting additional resources from private investors and to ensure the actions supported become economically and financially viable. In view of the inherent complexity of those instruments, the EIAH should also give guidance on the optimal choice of funding instruments and blending. Moreover, the EIAH, being a market-driven instrument providing advice on investment in various market sectors, should where appropriate also provide access to expertise other advisory entities with relevant specialised knowledge of specific market sectors. Encouragement of further collaboration between the EIAH and other advisory entities will be critical for the success of the EFSI, especially in market areas and niches where higher specialisation and deeper know-how is needed.

2017/03/02
Committee: ITRE

Proposal for a regulation
Recital 11

(11) In order to reinforce the take-up of the EFSI in less-developed and transition regions, the scope of the general objectives eligible for EFSI support should be enlarged. With a view to contributing to the Union objective of economic, social and territorial cohesion and reducing regional disparities, whilst preserving the market driven nature of EFSI, the geographical balance of EFSI support needs to be enhanced in line with the geographical diversification and concentration guidelines and by strengthening the role of the EIAH.

2017/03/02
Committee: ITRE

Proposal for a regulation
Recital 17

(17) The EIB and the EIF should ensure that the final beneficiaries, including SMEs, are informed of the existence of EFSI support, so as to enhance the visibility of the EU guarantee granted under Regulation (EU) 2015/1017. The information on EFSI support should be prominently placed in the financing agreement, particularly in the case of SMEs, so as to increase the visibility of the EFSI as a Union initiative.

2017/03/02
Committee: ITRE

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

Regulation (EU) 2015/1017
Article 5 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 3

To better address economic and financial inefficiencies, including market failures or, sub- optimal investment situations, discrepancies in the investment capacity of the Member States as reflected in diverse risk premiums, leveraging frictions or weak investment multipliers, and including also complicated multinational and cross border projects, and lack of risk-taking, especially in research, innovation, new technologies as well as in new and traditional infrastructures, EIB’s special activities supported by the EFSI shall typically have features such as subordination, participation in risk-sharing instruments, as well as first-loss guarantees schemes when combined with Union and/or national budgetary resources, cross- border characteristics, exposure to specific risks or other identifiable aspects as further described in Annex II.

2017/03/02
Committee: ITRE

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

Regulation (EU) 2015/1017
Article 5 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 4

EIB projects carrying a risk lower than the minimum risk under EIB special activities ~~may also~~cannot be supported by the EFSI ifunless the use of the EU guarantee is ~~required~~necessary to ensure additionality, as defined in the first subparagraph of this paragraph. and provided that those projects cannot be funded at better terms through other sources of financing.

2017/03/02
Committee: ITRE

Proposal for a regulation
Article 1 – paragraph 1 – point 5 – point b

Regulation (EU) 2015/1017
Article 9 – paragraph 2 – subparagraph 1 a

TWhilst recognizing the demand driven nature of EFSI, the EIB shall ~~target~~aim that at least 40 % of EFSI financing in the combined objectives under the infrastructure and innovation window ~~supports projects with components that~~ contributes to climate action, in line with the COP21 commitments. ~~The Steering Board shall provide detailed guidance to that end~~EFSI financing for SMEs and mid-cap companies shall not be included in that computation.

2017/03/02
Committee: ITRE

Proposal for a regulation
Article 1 – paragraph 1 – point 9 – point a – point i

Regulation (EU) 2015/1017
Article 14 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 1 – second sentence

Such support shall include the provi~~ding~~sion of targeted support on the use of technical assistance for project structuring, on the use of innovative financial instruments,, and on the, development and use of public- private partnerships, taking into account the specificities and needs of Member States with less- developed financial ~~market~~and capital markets, or with financial and capital markets that were harmed by the recent financial crisis.

2017/03/02
Committee: ITRE

Proposal for a regulation
Article 1 – paragraph 1 – point 9 – point a – point ii

Regulation (EU) 2015/1017
Article 14 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 2

It shall also support the preparation of climate action and circular economy projects or components thereof, in particular in the context of COP21, the preparation of projects in ~~the digital~~research and innovation, such as in the digital and telecommunications sectors, as well as the preparation of projects referred to in the fifth subparagraph of Article 5(1).

2017/03/02
Committee: ITRE

Proposal for a regulation
Article 1 – paragraph 1 – point 9 – point b – point i

Regulation (EU) 2015/1017
Article 14 – paragraph 2 – point c

(c) leveraging local and regional knowledge to facilitate EFSI support across the Union and contributing where possible to the objective of sectorial and geographical diversification of the EFSI referred to in Section 8 of Annex II by supporting the EIB to originate operations;

2017/03/02
Committee: ITRE

Proposal for a regulation
Article 1 – paragraph 1 – point 9 – point b – point ii

(e) providing pro-active support on the establishment of needs driven investment platforms;

2017/03/02
Committee: ITRE

Proposal for a regulation
Article 1 – paragraph 1 – point 9 – point b – point iii

Regulation (EU) 2015/1017
Article 14 – paragraph 2 – point f

(f) providing advice on the combination of other sources of Union funding (such as the European Structural and Investment Funds, Horizon 2020 ~~and the Connecting Europe Facility) with the EFSI;~~, the European Institute of Innovation and Technology and the Connecting Europe Facility) with the EFSI, thus facilitating the optimal blending of relevant Union resources,

2017/03/02
Committee: ITRE

Proposal for a regulation
Article 1 – paragraph 1 – point 11

Regulation (EU) 2015/1017
Article 19 – paragraph 1 a

The EIB and EIF shall inform or shall oblige financial intermediaries to inform the final beneficiaries~~, including SMEs, of the existence of EFSI support.;~~ of the existence of EFSI support and to make this information visible in a prominent place on the financing agreement, particularly in the case of SMEs, on every contract that includes EFSI support, thereby increasing public awareness and expanding visibility’

2017/03/02
Committee: ITRE

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

Regulation (EU) 2015/1017
Article 22 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 4

The Commission shall provide detailed guidance, where needed. In addition, the Commission shall draw up standard criteria and definitions to ensure transparency on issues related to tax governance;

2017/03/02
Committee: ITRE