Activities of Angelika WINZIG related to 2020/2245(INI)
Shadow reports (1)
REPORT on control of the financial activities of the European Investment Bank - annual report 2019
Amendments (40)
Amendment 8 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F
Recital F
F. whereas the EIB’s main objective of steady development shall also take into account public policy goals such as social cohesion and sustainable development should be at the core focus and targets of the Bank;
Amendment 10 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G
Recital G
G. whereas the EIB is considering plans to becomeing the ‘EU Development Bank’ and the Council already asked the EIB and the EBRD to present these plans for future discussions;
Amendment 15 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Welcomes the adoption of a new tax policy in March 2019, incorporating measures to counter tax avoidance via tax integrity due diligence checks and an anti- tax avoidance toolbox; notes that the EIB will not be able to invest in countries featured on the EU black list of prohibited jurisdictions, and non-compliant jurisdictions will receive ‘enhanced vigilance’; notes that a limited number of exceptions may apply for investments in non-cooperative jurisdictions and asks the EIB to mitigate the risk to a minimum in these cases; reiterates that heightened tax due diligence should apply whenever tax havens appearsre proved in the corporate structure of clients, promoters or intermediaries;
Amendment 19 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Welcomes that he EIB is implementing its Exclusion Policy and is committed to apply it rigorously through discretionary exclusion proceedings and settlement agreements; Asks the EIB to report about the number and scope of the decisions of suspension/interruption of payments and/or retrieval of loans or requests for anticipated reimbursement of loans as consequence of prohibited conducts or other malpractices affecting the financed activities; calls on the EIB to report about the nature of the financial support affected by the alleged misbehaviours and about the geographical distribution of such cases; if possible within the legal remits;
Amendment 20 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Welcomes EIB Group Update on COVID-19 in the EIB Financial Report 2019, shedding light on the emergency response package adopted in 2020 to support the SME and mid-cap sectors in the Union, encompassing liquidity lines and guarantee schemes for banks and asset- backed securities purchase programs and considering the creation of a European Guarantee Fund (EGF) focused on financing support to SMEs; urges the EIB to require companies supported by the European Guarantee Fund or other funding programmes put in place to tackle the COVID-19 crisis to comply with binding social and environmental corecommendiations, including the adoption of decarbonisation plans by the end of 2025, as to increase their resilience, and to refrain to pay out dividends, bonuses and share buy backs for at least the next 2 years after benefiting from supportstresses that any new requirements should not create more bureaucracy for SMEs;
Amendment 30 #
EFSI functioning and effectivenessdevelopment
Amendment 34 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Takes note of the results presented in the European Investment Advisory Hub Report 2019; commends the positive impact of the European Investment Advisory Hub (EIAH); calls to further strengthen the EIB’s in-house financial and capacities to ensure long-lasting commitment to the implementation and long-term financing horizon of EU missions such as cancer, adapting to climate change, protecting our oceans, living in greener cities and ensuring soil health and food; welcomes that in following up ECA’s recommendation a ‘Study on the root causes of the geographical spread of EFSI supported investment in response to recommendation 5 of the European Court of Auditors [Click and drag to move] ‘ performance audit on EFSI’ was presented in July 2019; takes note of the conclusions of this analysis; observes that the EFSI Steering Board emphasised the importance of achieving wide geographical distribution of EFSI investment to contribute to sustainable long-term economic convergence across the Union, which documents considerable efforts on the side of EIB and the Commission to facilitate a more balanced geographical distribution of EFSI financing;
Amendment 37 #
Motion for a resolution
Subheading 3
Subheading 3
The EIB’s role in financing the European Green DealDriving investments in key strategic areas
Amendment 39 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Recalls that in November 2019, in line with the political ambition behind the European Green Deal, the EIB Board of Directors decided to increase the level of climate and environment commitment for the EIB Group with the aim to transform the EIB from ‘an EU bank supporting climate’ into ‘the EU climate bank’ and pledged to gradually increase the share of its financing dedicated to climate action and environmental sustainability to reach 50% of its operations in 2025 and to align all financing activities with the goals of the Paris Agreement from the end of 2020; welcomes the adoption of the Climate Roadmap; calls on the EIB ensure that projects already in the pipeline before November 2020 are consistent with the objective of climate neutrality by 2050 despite the transition period foreseenbusiness continuity by continuing to approve projects already under appraisal until the end of 2022;
Amendment 42 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Notes that according to the EIB Sustainability Report, absolut relative emissions of the EIB portfolio in 2019 are estimated at 3,9 million tonnes of CO2e per year, up from 2.2 million tonnes of CO2e per year in 2018. The overall reduced or avoided emissions from the same financing are estimated at figures show savings of between 2.9 and3.15 million tonnes of CO2e per year in 2019 compared to 3.5 million tonnes of CO2e per year in 2018. Cbetween 2017 and 2019; calls on the EIB to increasemaintain its efforts to further decrease absolute emissions; calls onwelcomes that the EIB to systematically discloses GHG footprint calculations for all projects that are subject to cabove the threshold defined in section 5 of the EIB Carbon fFoot printing, in order to enhance transparency; Methodologies 1a, corresponding to a capturing of 95% of all absolute and relative GHG emissions from projects; _________________ 1a https://www.eib.org/en/about/documents/f ootprint-methodologies.htm
Amendment 43 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 a (new)
Paragraph 14 a (new)
14 a. Calls for any new policies to carefully weigh the consequences of any termination of ongoing contracts, focusing on the promotion of a circular economy;
Amendment 44 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 b (new)
Paragraph 14 b (new)
14 b. Stresses the need to ensure that the use of energy sources such as natural gas and their subsequent financing continues in the transition phase to the objective of achieving climate neutrality by 2050 at the latest;
Amendment 45 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 c (new)
Paragraph 14 c (new)
14 c. Notes that the climate problem cannot be solved without support of industry, a large scale change can only be achieved if the industry is taken on board and the necessary incentives are given for innovative climate solutions;
Amendment 47 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. WelcomNotes the Energy Lending Policy agreed by the EIB Board of Directors in November 2019 and in particular the decision to end financing for fossil fuel energy projects; notes howeverwelcomes that gas infrastructure projects included in the 4th list of Projects of Common Interest and gas projects already under appraisal by 14 November 2019 are not excluded from EIB financing until the end of 2021; points to the Ombudsman Decision in case 1991/2019/KR including the observation that the sustainability of gas on the PCI List were not properly assessed; expresses its concern that in 2019 the EIB provided 604welcomes that the 685 million euro of financing to oil and natural gas transmission and distribution; stresses that these projects are at risk of contributing to a lock-in of carbon intensive infrastructure and stranded assets; calls on the EIB to assess and address these riskswere subject to systematic environmental and climate due diligence;
Amendment 52 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
Amendment 55 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. Notes that under the current Energy Lending Policy, gas-fired power plants and gas network projects that are planned to transport low carbon gas are eligible under the condition of a ‘credible plan’; calls on the EIB to specify thenotes that the EIB established clear criteria for these plans to be considered credible in order to avoid the risk of supporting gas projects which are not aligned with climate targetscluding an emissions trajectory to be included in the EIB finance contract; welcomes that the EIB will make a mid- term review of the energy lending policy in early2022;
Amendment 58 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18
Paragraph 18
18. Notes that in 2019 the EIB supported several projects involving hydropower; expresses its concern about shortcomings in the environmental impact assessment of EIB-financed hydropower projects; welcomes the Environmental, Climate and Social Guidelines on Hydropower Development; calls on the EIB to enhance transparency of EIB operations involving financial intermediaries to identify and avoid potential negative environmental or human rights’ impacts to hydropower operations both inside and outside the EUwelcomes the Environmental, Climate and Social Guidelines on Hydropower Development; welcomes that the EIB is currently upgrading its reporting requirements for intermediated lending to account for alignment with the Paris Agreement and the EU Taxonomy on Sustainable Finance; stresses that such new requirements should not be at the detriment of access to finance for SMEs;
Amendment 60 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
Paragraph 19
19. Expresses its concern over the risk that the EIB and the EIF finance carbon intensive activities via financial intermediaries; calls on the EIB Group to introduce binding environmental, social, governance and fair taxation criteria as part of the upcoming guidelines on counterparty alignment, including lists of restricted activities and the requirement for clients to have clear and binding decarbonisation plans in line with the Paris AgreementRecalls that the EIB Group has in place an Environment and Social Framework, welcomes that the EIB systematically reports on environmental, social, and economic impacts and provides ex-ante as well as ex-post evaluations of the screening exercise regarding environmental and social impacts; ;
Amendment 63 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20
Paragraph 20
20. Notes the EIB Group’s growing involvement in the agricultural sector; insists that EIB financing needs to support athe transition to land-based animal agriculture, with diets adapted to the animals’ natural needs, and a re- balancing of animal and crop productions and should avoid contributing to stocking densities exceeding the carrying capacity of the landhat European policy is calling for in the livestock sector;
Amendment 65 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21
Paragraph 21
21. Notes that the financing provided within the Union in 2019 for transport was higher than in 2018 (EUR 9 325 million against EUR 8 237 million in 2018) and that contraction of financing for road and motorways was offset by increases in financing of railways and air transport; stresses the importance of aligning the Transport Lending Policy and the EIB’s transport portfolio with the Climate Bank Roadmap, in particular the decarbonisation of the transport sector by 2050; regrets the EIBbut also with the Commission’s support in 2019 to airport expansions in several Member Statescoming strategy for sustainable and smart mobility as a response to the new European Green Deal, and with other areas of EU transport policy; welcomes the EIB’s commitment to pull back from financnot to finance existing airport capacity expansion; calls for the upcoming revision of the Transport Lending Policy to explicitly exclude financing of projects locking-in carbon intensive, in particular the expansion of air and port infrastructure dedicated to the transports and infrastructure for Liquefied Natural Gas, to limit the financing of motorwaystorage of fossil fuels; calls for the Policy to increase support for modal shifts towards zero-carbon mobility both for freight and passengers at urban and inter-urban level, such as rail, safe cycling and clean public transport, in particular for underserved communities and localities, and for renewables-based electrification infrastructure;
Amendment 71 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25
Paragraph 25
25. Notes that the Union development policy will be implemented via the new Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument (NDICI) of which the EIB is key implementer; expresses concern about the use of EU development funds for de- risking private investment given the lack of evidence as to its capacity to provide additionality and fulfil development objectives, as recently reported in the final review of EFSD as well as the opinion of the European Court of Auditors (No 7/2020); stresses the need for donors to prioritise grant-based financing as the default option, especially to LDCs avoiding an increase of debt burdenwelcomes that the EFSD delivers on financial additionality and is highly relevant to the requirements of the ‘new SDG-led global development finance model’, as recently reported in the final review of EFSD as well as the opinion of the European Court of Auditors (No 7/2020);
Amendment 72 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26
Paragraph 26
26. Reiterates that EIB’s external operations are expected to contribute to EU policy objectivesWelcomes that the EIB has always been fully aligned with EU external policies, , fostering developing countries’ sustainable economic, social and environmental development, particularly in the most disadvantaged amongst them as well as compliance with objectives approved by the Union; recognises poverty eradication, domestic resource mobilisation and human rights as core topics within the EU development finance architecture; reminds that stakeholders engagement is the cornerstone of sustainable and inclusive development; and welcomes in this regard that EIB is strongly committed to the principles of stakeholder engagement as defined in its Standard on Stakeholder Engagement;
Amendment 76 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27
Paragraph 27
27. Reiterates its call to enhance its due diligence at project level to identify and address human rights related risks in all its activities and throughout the lifespan of its projects including by Notes that human rights principles are fully integrated into the Bank’s key due diligence procedures and standards and that contractual clauses with clients allowing for the suspension of disbursements in the case of serious violations of human rights or environmental and social standards, and to ensure, notes that thate complaints mechanisms are easily accessible timely and effective; asks to report to the Parliament and the Board of Governors about this by the end of 2021was reinforced at the end of 2018; recalls that the EIB is directly bound by the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights and welcomes the revision of the 2009 Statement of Environmental and Social Principles and Standards;
Amendment 79 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 28
Paragraph 28
28. Expresses its concern about the lack of transparency of EIB’s operations through financial intermediaries such as commercial banks and investment funds; sStresses the need to assess the economic and social impactresults of intermediated loans by making information about ultimate beneficiaries available; calls for the EIB to establish standard reporting obligations wiacknowledges however that the confidentiality agreements between the financial intermediariesy and by the final beneficiaries, respecting where needed the confidentiality agreements between the financial intermediary and the final beneficiary but providing a solid structure for gathering data and informationy must be respected and that the disclosure of beneficial ownership to the public cannot be unilaterally extended by the EIB beyond the existing legal framework including the GDPR ;
Amendment 84 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 30
Paragraph 30
30. Expresses its concern over reports that several former vice-presidents have taken up employment at entities associated with the EIB without respecting a cooling- off period; deplores the fact that such practices are not strictly regulated and prohibited by the EIB’s code of conduct; regrets that the ongoing review of post- employment policy has not yet been finalised and stresses that stricter rules should be iafter following the process required by the EIB Management Committee Code of Conduct ; notes that the EIB’s code of conduct foresees cooling-off periods for members of the EIB Management Committee and the Board of Directors; welcomes the ongoing review of post-empleoymented policy; calls on the EIB to align its policy on post- employment with that of the Commission and peer institutions;
Amendment 85 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 31
Paragraph 31
31. Expresses concernNotes that the vice- presidents are still responsible, among other countries, for their country of origin which canon the one hand gives them the necessary expertise but on the other hand might create conflict of interest; calls onstresses theat EIB to act on Parliament’s request to include in the Code of Conduct of the Management Committee a provision excluding the possibishould continue to carry out project assessment alongside objective technical, financial, economic indicators making the project’s quality of their Members overseeing lending or the implementation of projects in their home countries decisive factor in deciding whether or not to grant financing;
Amendment 86 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 32
Paragraph 32
32. Welcomes the EIB Decision of 6 February 2019 laying down internal rules concerning the processing of personal data by the Fraud Investigations Division within the Inspectorate General and the Office of the Chief Compliance Officer; stressnotes that in terms of Corporate Compliance, adequate resources must be devoted to control and monitor external activities, conflict of interests, procurement and gifts;
Amendment 87 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 33
Paragraph 33
33. Regrets the still persistent lack of diversity and gender balance at the senior management level and within the EIB Group’s governing bodies as well as a very high share of women in support functions; regrets that theWelcomes the EIB’s efforts to promote diversity and gender balance; notes that the bank set targets to increase the percentage of female managers to 33% by 2021 falls below the target of 40% women in managing positions in the Commission; urges the EIB to strengthen its efforts in promoting gender balance at all levels of staffthe share of women at senior Executive level to 40%, and the share of women at Executive level to 50% by 2021; urges the EIB to strengthen its efforts in promoting gender balance at all levels of staff; notes that Vice Presidents are nominated by member states and as such the gender balance of the management committee is not a decision for the bank;
Amendment 91 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 34
Paragraph 34
34. Regretcalls that EIB still does not fully disclose the detailsArt 30(5) of the ALM requires Member States to ensure that the information ofn the beneficial ownership of its clients; observes that in some cases the data of the involved economic operatois accessible to, among others, are not communicated by the promoters or financial intermediariesny member of the general public; stresses that the disclosure of beneficiaries and their beneficial ownership is in line with the existing legal framework, however, recalls that it is possible for Member States to provide for exemptions to the disclosure through the registers of beneficial ownership information and to access to such information, in exceptional circumstances; asks the EIB to use the available tools and to implement the standards promoted by the 5th AML Directive to make accessible such data; invites to explore which measures could be taken in case of unjustified refusal by some jurisdiction to provide such information; reiterates the need that EIF Compliance and EIB OCCO work together to bring consistency to the design and implementation of the EIB Group policies in the sectors of Anti-Money Laundering and Combating Terrorism Financing;
Amendment 97 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36
Paragraph 36
36. Reiterates the importance of the involvement of local stakeholders when assessing impact of investments; emphasises that consultations must be inclusive of all the interested communities, accessible to vulnerable groups, tailored on peculiarities of the stakeholders and continuous throughout the project lifecycle; welcomes in this regard that the EIB follows a transparent procedure laid down in Art.7.10 & 7.11 of EIB Group’s Transparency Policy; recalls forthat EIB standards are fully aligned with the international human rights law and the bank is calls for respecting the principle of compliance with the principle of free, prior, and informed consent from all the affected communities (besides the indigenous population) in case of land and natural resource-based investments, asks the EIB to report on the implementation of the above principles;
Amendment 101 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 37 a (new)
Paragraph 37 a (new)
37 a. Recalls that Art. 287 (3) TFEU defines the Court’s audit powers in relation to the EIB; recalls that the Court is competent to audit the EIB's activity in managing Union expenditure and revenue; recalls that the Audit Committee is competent to audit the EIB’s share capital according to Art. 12 of Protocol 5 (Statute of the EIB); recalls that Art 308 (3) TFEU allows the Council to amend the Protocol on the Statute of the EIB by simple decision without a full Treaty revision; emphasises the increased importance under the new MFF of EU guarantees and other financial instruments managed by the EIB; calls therefore on the Council to amend Art. 12 of Protocol 5 to give the ECA a role in auditing the EIB’s share capital; notes that the current tripartite agreement between the Commission, the EIB and the Court concerning audits of operations which are financed or backed by the Union budget expires in 2020; calls on the Commission, the Court and the EIB to enhance the role of the Court and further strengthen its auditing powers regarding activities of the EIB in the renewal of the tripartite agreement governing the rules of engagement;
Amendment 105 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 39
Paragraph 39
39. Notes the adoption in March 2019 of the EIB Group Whistleblowing Policy and takes note of its compliance with the general principles and standards integrated in the Directive (EU) 2019/1937, entered into force at a later time; regretwelcomes that the policy applies solelBank will further enhance its Whistleblowing Policy in line with the principles underpinning the Directive including the extension of the scope of applicability to cases of inexternal whistleblowing;
Amendment 107 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 41
Paragraph 41
41. Notes that in 2019 out of the 220 cases completed, 40 were substantiated, corresponding to 18% of the cases completed, and resulted either in referrals to competent authorities or in recommendations to EIB Group services; notes also that 62% of such referrals (25 out of 40) were made to OLAF; asks EIB to report on the outcome of undertaken actions;
Amendment 108 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 42
Paragraph 42
42. Calls on the EIB to increase proactive transparency by making non- confidential documents publicly available in a user friendly database in a timely manner; reiterates its call to operate on the basis of the ‘presumption of disclosure’ rather than the ‘presumption of confidentiality’ in line with the existing legal framework;
Amendment 109 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 43
Paragraph 43
43. Reiterates its call for the disclosure ofNotes that the opinions issued by the Commission within the framework of the procedure in accordance with Article 19 of the EIB Statute on the EIB financing operations for the purpose to assess their compliance with the relevant EU legislation and EU policies are included in the minutes of the Board of Directors and published on the EIB’s website; calls on the Commission and EIB to reach an agreement to ensure full transparency on such opinions and their underlying rationale as far as legally possible;
Amendment 110 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 44
Paragraph 44
44. Calls for the timely publication of the full agendas and minutes of meetings of the Management Committee and Board of Directors’; underlines that the future Transparency Policy should reinforce the transparency requirements for all its operations and requistands however that certain limits apply with regard to document transparency to ensure projtect promoters to make Environmion of confidential Impact Assessminformation provided by EIB's clients and related documents publicly available, by including stringent transparency obligations in the specific contractual clauses signed with all EIB clientsproject partners; underlines that the future Transparency Policy should reinforce transparency; asks the EIB to publish more regular, in-depth and comprehensive information on the financial intermediaries responsible for leveraging EIB funds and to include contractual clauses concerning mandatory disclosures from these institutions on lending activity; stresses that any new requirements should not be at the detriment of access to finance for SMEs;
Amendment 112 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 45 – point a
Paragraph 45 – point a
(a) impacts (economic, environmental and social) of its investment strategy and results achieved to contribute to the balanced and steady development of the internal market in the interest of the Union,
Amendment 113 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 45 – point b
Paragraph 45 – point b
(b) acdaptations adoprelated to enhance the prevention of conflict of interests,
Amendment 114 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 45 – point c
Paragraph 45 – point c
(c) measures for strengthenregards transparency following integrity due diligence of clients to prevent tax avoidance, fraud and corruption,
Amendment 115 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 45 – point d
Paragraph 45 – point d
(d) results of the actions undertaken to follow up the calls and requests adopted via the present resolution;