Activities of Manon AUBRY related to 2019/2126(INI)
Shadow opinions (1)
OPINION on the financial activities of the European Investment Bank – annual report 2019
Amendments (11)
Amendment 2 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Highlights the importance of the activities of the European Investment Bank (EIB) to increase the current levels of investment in the EU, which are below historical averages and insufficient to fulfil the EU’s sustainability, social and innovation ambitions; notes the European Fiscal Board in its review of the two and six pack legislation stressed that the current EU fiscal rules do not prevent severe cutbacks in public investment; welcomes the Commission’s commitment to review those rules; calls on the Commission to pay special attention in its legislative proposal to this issue raised by the European Fiscal Board and to make sure the EU fiscal rules supports the future efforts of the EIB to increase the levels of public investment in the EU; moreover stresses that in order to achieve these ambitions, more risk- taking by the EIB may be necessary in parallel to increasing equity and the development of expertise in innovative funding instruments; calls for adequate capitalisation of the EIB to allow for the use of innovative instruments in the financing of projects with substantial potential sustainability, social and innovation gains;
Amendment 9 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Highlights the importance of the activities of the European Investment Bank (EIB) to increase the current levels of investment in the EU, which are below historical averages and insufficient to fulfil the EU’s sustainability, social and innovation ambitions; stresses that in order to achieve these ambitions, more risk- taking by the EIB may be necessary in parallel to increasing equity and the development of expertise in innovative funding instruments; calls for adequate capitalisation of the EIB to allow for the use of innovative instruments in the financing of projects with substantial potential sustainability, social and innovation gains, especially projects creating sustainable jobs, reducing inequalities, supporting social and regional cohesion;
Amendment 21 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Welcomes the commitment by the Commission President-elect to turn sections of the EIB into a climate bank, and the commitments from the EIB President to increase the share of EIB financing for climate action and environmental sustainability to at least 50 % by 2025 and to align all EIB financing activities with the goals of the Paris Agreement by the end of 2020; welcomes the commitment by the EIB to end financing of oil, gas and coal projects after 2021; calls on the Commission to present an ambitious new European Sustainable Investment Plan, including additional financial commitments, as soon as possible, and to fully support the EIB in its sustainability ambitions; calls on the EIB to adopt a key role in sustainable finance both in and outside Europe;
Amendment 31 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Stresses that in order for the EIB to become the EU’s climate bank, it should stop all financial support to fossil fuel projects by the end of 2020, and align all its activities, including EIF operations and energy strategy, with the Paris Agreement’s goals and the EU Green Deal; calls on the EIB to make decarbonisation commitments a condition for companies to receive EIB support; calls on the EIB to apply the EU taxonomy framework, once it has been formally adopted, as a benchmark for its climate and environmental investments; calls on the EIB to develop a credible methodology to measure, disclose and achieve ‘Paris alignment’ of its financing operations;
Amendment 40 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Stresses that the key quantitative target of the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) of mobilising EUR 500 billion of additional private and public investment should be replaced by measurable targets on sustainability and social impact in future investment strategies; calls on the EIB to increase the share of EFSI and InvestEU financing to projects that substantially contribute to the EU’s sustainability and social objectives; calls on the Commission to ensure that InvestEU’s sustainability-proofing methodologies are fully consistent with the EU’s sustainability objectives; regrets the EIB has been funding projects that resulted in human rights violations; stresses some weaknesses have been identified in how the EIB handled complaints filed with the Complaints Mechanism; calls on the EIB to undertake systematic human rights impact assessment prior to funding a project;
Amendment 41 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Stresses that the key quantitative target of the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) of mobilising EUR 500 billion of additional private and public investment should be replaced by measurable targets on sustainability and social impact in future investment strategies; calls on the EIB to increase the share of EFSI and InvestEU financing to projects that substantially contribute to the EU’s sustainability and social objective, social objectives and to the reduction of inequalities; calls on the EIB to prioritise supporting through its lending activities the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals; calls on the Commission to ensure that InvestEU’s sustainability-proofing methodologies are fully consistent with the EU’s sustainability objectives;
Amendment 47 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4 a. Calls the EIB to commit to strengthen its policy against tax fraud, tax evasion and tax avoidance; welcomes the new non-cooperative jurisdiction and tax good governance Policy and the use of the EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions as one of the list of reference; however stresses some weaknesses remains in the NJC policy and do not prevent the EIB to fund again projects that are related to tax havens and contributing to unfair taxation; urges the EIB to develop mechanisms to avoid fuelling tax dodging; calls the EIB to not finance or to use its mandatory relocation clause for any operation that uses entities either subject to zerotaxation or less than 50% taxation rate compared to the country of implementation of the project, including hybrid entities; urges the EIB to no tmake any use of entities for which a hybrid mismatch is possible especially if it can benefit from preferential tax regimes, including intellectual property transfers or license agreements in low-tax jurisdictions or if the entities arenot covered by Controlled foreign corporation rules and/or withholding taxes;
Amendment 60 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Calls on the EIB group to be more transparent about its economic operations, its use of the EU budget guarantee, the additionality of EIB operations and on possible future plans for a development subsidiary at the EIB, and for the EIB group to improve its accountability on these issues; calls for a memorandum of understanding between the EIB and Parliament to improve access to EIB documents and data related to strategic orientation and financing policies in the future in order to strengthen the Bank’s accountability; calls for making the EIB more accountable towards the European Parliament by creating a dedicated sub- committee to monitor EIB operations and provide political guidance to the EIB; calls for the EIB to participate to the ECON dialogues with a mandatory series of hearings.
Amendment 63 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Calls on the EIB group to be more transparent about its economic operations, its use of the EU budget guarantee, the additionality of EIB operations and on possible future plans for a development subsidiary at the EIB, and for the EIB group to improve its accountability on these issues; calls the EIB to review its framework for anti-corruption fight to improve cooperation with European authorities, especially OLAF and the European Public Prosecutor’s Office and to make it mandatory for the EIB to report potential fraud cases to national authorities; calls for a memorandum of understanding between the EIB and Parliament to improve access to EIB documents and data related to strategic orientation and financing policies in the future in order to strengthen the Bank’s accountability.
Amendment 66 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Calls on the EIB group to be more transparent about its economic operations, its use of the EU budget guarantee, the additionality of EIB operations and on possible future plans for a development subsidiary at the EIB, and for the EIB group to improve its accountability on these issues; calls for a memorandum of understanding between the EIB and Parliament to improve access to EIB documents and data related to strategic orientation and financing policies in the future in order to strengthen the Bank’s accountability; calls the EIB to require a public country by country reporting to its clients without waiting for the outcome of ongoing discussion at the EU level.
Amendment 68 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Calls on the EIB group to be more transparent about its economic operations, which operations are contributing to achieve the Paris Agreement’s goals, the EU Green Deal objectives and the SDGs; its use of the EU budget guarantee, the additionality of EIB operations and on possible future plans for a development subsidiary at the EIB, and for the EIB group to improve its accountability on these issues; calls for a memorandum of understanding between the EIB and Parliament to improve access to EIB documents and data related to strategic orientation and financing policies in the future in order to strengthen the Bank’s accountability; .