Activities of David CORMAND related to 2021/2252(INI)
Shadow opinions (1)
OPINION on the future European financial architecture for development
Amendments (11)
Amendment 2 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. WelcomesTakes note of the Council’s conclusions on enhancing the European Financial Architecture for Development (EFAD) and underlines the key role of the ‘Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument – Global Europe‘, the European Fund for Sustainable Development Plus (EFSD+) and the External Action Guarantee in providing a strategic framework for blended finance, de-risking investments and guarantees and in mobilising resources from the private sector with the support of the EU budget; takes notes of the Commission's roadmap for an improved European financial architecture for development and the 2021 progress report; expects the EIB and EBRD to ensure that all projects, and in particular blended finance projects contribute to development goals and benefit the least developed countries;
Amendment 5 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Stresses that despite some recent improvements, the current status quo is characterised by a lack of coordination, fragmentation, duplication and continued competiRecognises the progress and improvements made under EFAD since the Council’s conclusions in terms of enhancing coordination and cooperation between the European Investment Bank (EIB), the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and European development and finance institutions; underlines the need to make the current system more efficient and focused to ensure an optimal use of resources, a better return on EU taxpayers’ money and a stronger development impact; calls for further efforts to ensure better coordination and avoid fragmentation, duplication and inefficient competition; calls on the Commission to play a more active role in giving political guidance, in particular clearer policy direction and orientations, for the implementation of the EFAD, to ensure high standards and sound development banking prevail;
Amendment 7 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2 a. Welcomes the Council’s commitments to steer EFAD towards achieving Agenda 2030, the SDGs and Paris agreement of 1.5°C; recalls the NDICI global climate spending target of 30%, the 7,5% target for biodiversity spending in the MFF in 2024, and calls for prioritisation of projects that create co-benefits and meet multiple objectives; calls for the stringent application of the Do No Significant Harm principle; regrets that the Commission does not provide more specific commitments towards climate policy goals in its roadmap, and expects it to be remedied in an upcoming programming document; calls on banning all operations financing sectors that contribute to the climate crises, mainly the fossil fuel industry;
Amendment 9 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Recognises that the European Financial Architecture for Development ishould be mainly focused on least developed and fragile countries, particularly in sub- Saharan Africa; recalls, however, that a considerable share of investments is channelled to the Western Balkans and the Eastern and Southern Neighbourhood, and underlines the need to provide funding to deal with new challenges and support new priorities in theseleast developed regions; calls on the Commission, the EIB, the EBRD and European development and finance institutions to work on action plans for the reconstruction of Ukraine as soon as it is re-established as a sovereign and independent country after the warfter the war, to build back better, greener and in a more inclusive approach, without jeopardising development goals for least developed countries;
Amendment 11 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Calls on the EIB, the EBRD and European development and finance institutions to strengthen their cooperation within the EFSD+ open architecture by taking a Team Europe approach; stresses the need for greater specialisation and a better division of labour to ensure synergies and complementarities; underlines the need to move away from the current project-based approach towards sector-based programming involving all stakeholders from the start, including private investors, to increase leverage and impactrecalls the European Parliament’s key role in scrutinising the objectives of Team Europe; calls in this context for a solid level playing field in terms of governance of the EFSD+ and access to EU resources as key for a fruitful cooperation among European DFIs members of EFAD; stresses the need for greater specialisation and a better division of labour to ensure synergies and complementarities;
Amendment 18 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Reaffirms the privileged role of the EIB as the EU’s investment arm and welcomnotes the recent creation of its development branch, EIB Global; calls on the EIB to draw on the example of the EBRD and strengthen its presence in the field by recruiting local workers as well as staff dedicated to environmental, human rights and social due diligence, while exploiting possible synergies with other European development and finance institutions; expects this new structure and its advisory board to be fully transparent including proactive publication of documents, and to ensure regular open dialogue with stakeholders, and in particular with civil society organisations;
Amendment 27 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Recognises the importance of encouraging riskier investments in more challenging development settings, such as fragile or conflict-affected countries, and underserved sectors such as the climate, biodiversity, education and health sectors; underlines, at the same time, the need to fully protect the EU budget fromcalls for limiting blending operations to those areas where they can add value to the local economy, while excluding blended finance from essential public services, particularly health, education and social protection, as the monetisation of those sectors could widen already existing inequalities and jeopardise the universal access to those services; underlines, at the same time, the need to minimise any associated risks to the EU, such as increased demand on the EU budgetary guarantees;
Amendment 29 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Highlights the need to increase the transparency of the current framework, including the programming process, and for Parliament to be more heavily involved; recalls that the tripartite agreement gives access to the Court of Auditors to all information related to guarantees from the EU budget; regrets the lack of proper scrutiny from the European Court of Auditors on the EU budgetary guarantees, due to the internal division of competences between Chambers 1 and 2 of the ECA; calls on the ECA to fully scrutinise and regularly report on operations backed by guarantees from the EU budget, and not only when there is a direct risk for the EU budget; underlines the importance of carrying out an independent evaluation of the EFSD+ and the Team Europe approach in due timeby the end of 2026 to assess their effectiveness and performance.
Amendment 34 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 8 a (new)
Paragraph 8 a (new)
8 a. Expects upcoming joint lending policies to always use the more stringent standards of either institution;
Amendment 36 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 8 b (new)
Paragraph 8 b (new)
8 b. Recalls the EU´s global commitment to defend and promote human rights, which are indivisible, universal and interdependent; expects all involved parties to fully respect the protection of human rights or procedures to prevent human rights violations, despite repeated calls, inter alia from the European Parliament;
Amendment 38 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 8 c (new)
Paragraph 8 c (new)
8 c. Calls on EFAD to contribute to the full implementation of the third gender action plan; recalls the target of at least 85% of actions with gender equality as a principal or significant objective, of which at least 5% should have gender equality and women’s and girls’ rights and empowerment as a principal objective; calls for an obligation for all EFAD operations to collect gender-disaggregated data, and to have ex-ante as well as ex- post gender impact evaluation;