17 Amendments of Vilija BLINKEVIČIŪTĖ related to 2016/2064(INI)
Amendment 3 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Believes that the main aim of projects financed under the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) should be to create growth and a dynamic labour market in Europe, and hencesustainable quality jobs in Europe, as well as to increase social cohesion, social inclusion and thus to enhance the well-being of EU citizens;
Amendment 23 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Calls on the Commission and, the Member States, and the EIB Group to help SMEs and micro- enterprises to tap into funding more easily, so by promoting EFSI and the European Investment Advisory Hub (EIAH) more efficiently at local level, as well as to increase their capacity to implement projects and afford themto enable better access to advisory services and technical support;
Amendment 30 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2a. Calls on the European Commission and the EIB Group to increase their efforts and enhance the social and employment impact of the European Fund for Strategic Investments, whilst maintaining the aim of EFSI to help overcome the current investment gap in the EU by mobilising private financing for strategic investments;
Amendment 32 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 b (new)
Paragraph 2 b (new)
2b. Notes that only 4% of the EFSI financing has gone to social infrastructure projects; calls on the Commission, the EIB Group, and the Member States to step up their efforts, build capacity, raise awareness, develop an appropriate ecosystem and increase the attraction of investment into social services such as education, training, healthcare and housing;
Amendment 33 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 c (new)
Paragraph 2 c (new)
2c. Welcomes the EaSI Guarantee enhancement under the SME Window of EFSI, as well as the development of the EFSI Equity instrument focused on ensuring adequate contribution to the market development in the areas such as social impact; calls for an ongoing commitment to the development of social entrepreneurship and social and solidarity economy to further broaden social, cultural, and environmental goals in areas such as poverty alleviation, healthcare and community development;
Amendment 34 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Calls on the Member States to develop national platforms using the EFSI to invest in, local authorities, public sector organizations or other government-related entities to strengthen their cooperation with various stakeholders, including social partners and use the EFSI, where appropriate, to make smart investments for the development of high-quality social and health services for new-generation jobtheir citizens;
Amendment 45 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Calls for the EFSI to operate in closer conjunction with the Structural Fon the European Commission and the EIB Group to enable the EFSI to operate in closer conjunction with various EU funds and financing instruments, such as the Employment and Social Innovation (EaSI) programme, the European Structural Fund and other relevant funds;
Amendment 56 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Calls on the Commission and the EIB Group to engage more actively in consultation at local level, especially in cooperation with national investment banks, and not only; believes that the EFSI should focus in particular onalso support business startup projects and projects aimed ato reduceing unemployment;
Amendment 60 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5a. Welcomes the European Commission's proposals for a second phase of the European Fund for Strategic investments EFSI, with regards to the technical improvement of the European Investment Advisory Hub; insists that a European Investment Advisory Hub that would act more locally and enhance its cooperation with National Promotional Banks to provide customized technical assistance according to local needs and build capacity, would lead to a better geographical coverage of EFSI and could also potentially increase the number of social projects;
Amendment 64 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Calls on the Commission and the ECIB Group to increase investment in projects in the, in general as well as under the EFSI to the extent possible, the investment in projects in least inhabited regions as well as outermost regions, which are particularly handicapped by underinvestment in job opportunities, resulting in unemployment, exclusion, and emigration;
Amendment 74 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6a. Highlights that special attention should be paid to projects in Member States and regions suffering most from the crisis in order to reduce divergences in particular in relation to unemployment and employment levels;
Amendment 75 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 b (new)
Paragraph 6 b (new)
6b. Notes the assessment in the context of the EFSI independent evaluation of why there are less applications for the European Fund for Strategic Investments from some countries, such as from the CEE region; calls upon the Commission and the EIB Group to enhance their promotion and technical support in the Member States that have had a low number of approved projects;
Amendment 85 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Considers it disappointing that the Commission’'s assessment of the EFSI has failed to record the number of jobs created to date under the Fund; acknowledges the difficulties in assessing this component given the time needed for projects to mature and their impact to be assessed, and calls in this regard on EIB Group to develop the best methods to collect and evaluate such results at the next evaluation, taking also into account long- term impact beyond the duration of EFSI;
Amendment 88 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7 a (new)
Paragraph 7 a (new)
7a. Welcomes the existence of Growth and Employment reports for the instruments deployed under the EFSI SME Window (SMEW) and of Social Impact reporting under the EaSI Guarantee financial instrument and EFSI SMEW social impact pilot instruments and encourages that such reporting continues to be used;
Amendment 90 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7 b (new)
Paragraph 7 b (new)
7b. Considers that cross-border infrastructure projects are key for the fulfilment of the Single Market, as well as for enhancing employment opportunities; calls for the European Commission and the European Investment Advisory Hub to focus on providing technical support and building capacity so as to boost the number of such projects and increase their quality and impact;
Amendment 92 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Calls on the Member States to lay down more clear-cut national investment priorities and to draw up projects in collaboration with the European Investment Advisory Hub; calls on the Commission to work in closer cooperation with Member States in the European Semester process in order to help them begin as soon as possible to implement the recommendations, in particular by carrying out economic and social reforms, thus removing national barriers to investmentwith the support of the European Investment Advisory Hub.
Amendment 100 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 8 a (new)
Paragraph 8 a (new)
8a. Welcomes the European Commission's proposal in the second phase of EFSI, to increase the transparency of how projects are selected by requiring the EFSI Investment Committee to explain its decisions and give reasons for granting support, as well as to have the Scoreboard for the EFSI projects made public as soon as projects are signed and with the exclusion of commercially sensitive information; notes that indicators such as job creation and skills development are key.