BETA

18 Amendments of Norica NICOLAI related to 2018/0229(COD)

Proposal for a regulation
Recital 3

(3) In the last years, the Union has adopted ambitious strategies to complete the Single Market and to stimulate sustainable growth and jobs, such as the Capital Markets Union, the Digital Single Market Strategy, the Clean Energy for all Europeans package, the Union Action Plan for the Circular Economy, the Low- Emission Mobility Strategy, the Defence and the Space Strategy for Europe. The InvestEU Fund should exploit and reinforce synergies between those mutually reinforcing strategies through providing support to investment and access to financing in all regions, especially in regions where such access is structurally constrained.

2018/10/10
Committee: REGI

Proposal for a regulation
Recital 4

(4) At Union level, the European Semester of economic policy coordination is the framework to identify national reform priorities and monitor their implementation. Member States develop their own national multiannual investment strategies in support of those reform priorities. The strategies should be presented alongside the yearly National Reform Programmes as a way to outline and coordinate priority investment projects to be supported by national or Union funding, or by both. They should also serve to use Union funding in a coherent manner and to maximise the added value of the financial support to be received notably from ~~the European Structural and Investment Funds,~~ the European Investment Stabilisation Function and the InvestEU Fund, where relevant.

2018/10/10
Committee: REGI

Proposal for a regulation
Recital 6

(6) The InvestEU Fund should support investments in tangible and intangible assets to foster growth, investment and employment, and thereby contributing to the reduction of disparities between regions, improved well-being ~~and~~, fairer income distribution in the Union and the Union’s economic, social and territorial cohesion. Intervention through the InvestEU Fund should complement Union support delivered through grants.

2018/10/10
Committee: REGI

Proposal for a regulation
Recital 19

(19) ~~Each~~The policy window ~~should be composed of two compartments, that is to say an EU compartment and a Member State compartment. The EU compartment~~s should address Union-wide market failures or sub-optimal investment situations in a proportionate manner; supported actions should have a clear European added value. The Member State compartment should give Member States the possibility to contribute a share of their resources of Funds under shared management to the provisioning of the EU guarantee to use the EU guarantee for financing or investment operations to address specific market failures or sub-optimal investment situations in their own territory, including in vulnerable and remote areas such as the outermost regions of the Union, to deliver objectives of the Fund under shared management. Actions supported from the InvestEU Fund through either EU or Member State compartmentsActions supported from the InvestEU Fund should not duplicate or crowd out private financing or distort competition in the internal market.

2018/10/10
Committee: REGI

Proposal for a regulation
Recital 20

(20) The Member State compartment should be specifically designed to allow the use of funds under shared management to provision a guarantee issued by the Union. That combination aims at mobilising the high credit rating of the Union to promote national and regional investments while ensuring a consistent risk management of the contingent liabilities by implementing the guarantee given by the Commission under indirect management. The Union should guarantee the financing and investment operations foreseen by the guarantee agreements concluded between the Commission and implementing partners under the Member State compartment, the Funds under shared management should provide the provisioning of the guarantee, following a provisioning rate determined by the Commission based on the nature of the operations and the resulting expected losses, and the Member State would assume losses above the expected losses by issuing a back-to-back guarantee in favour of the Union. Such arrangements should be concluded in a single contribution agreement with each Member State that voluntarily chooses such option. The contribution agreement should encompass the one or more specific guarantee agreements to be implemented within the Member State concerned. The setting out of the provisioning rate on a case by case basis requires a derogation from [Article 211(1)] of Regulation (EU, Euratom) No XXXX19 (the ‘Financial Regulation’). This design provides also a single set of rules for budgetary guarantees supported by funds managed centrally or by funds under shared management, which would facilitate their combination. _________________ 19deleted

2018/10/10
Committee: REGI

Proposal for a regulation
Recital 29

(29) In selecting implementing partners for the deployment of the InvestEU Fund, the Commission should consider the counterpart’s capacity to fulfil the objectives of the InvestEU Fund and contribute its own resources, in order to ensure adequate geographical coverage and diversification, to crowd-in private investors and to provide sufficient risk diversification as well as new solutions to address market failures and sub-optimal investment situations. Given its role under the Treaties, its capacity to operate in all Member States and the existing experience under the current financial instruments and the EFSI, the European Investment Bank (‘EIB’) Group should remain a privileged implementing partner under the InvestEU Fund~~’s EU compartment~~. In addition to the EIB Group, national promotional banks or institutions should be able to offer a complementary financial product range given that their experience and capabilities at regional level could be beneficial for the maximisation of the impact of public funds on the territory of the Union. Moreover, it should be possible to have other international financial institutions as implementing partners, in particular when they present a comparative advantage in terms of specific expertise and experience in certain Member States. It should also be possible for other entities fulfilling the criteria laid down in the Financial Regulation to act as implementing partners.

2018/10/10
Committee: REGI

Proposal for a regulation
Recital 30

(30) In order to ensure that interventions under the ~~EU compartment of the~~ InvestEU Fund focus on market failures and sub-optimal investment situations at Union level, but, at the same time, satisfy the objectives of best possible geographic outreach, the EU guarantee should be allocated to implementing partners, which alone or together with other implementing partners, can cover at least three Member States. However, it is expected that around 75 % of the EU guarantee ~~under the EU compartment~~ would be allocated to implementing partner or partners that can offer financial products under the InvestEU Fund in all Member States.

2018/10/10
Committee: REGI

Proposal for a regulation
Recital 31

(31) The EU guarantee under the Member State compartment should be allocated to any implementing partner eligible according to [Article 62(1)(c)] of the [Financial Regulation], including national or regional promotional banks or institutions, the EIB, the European Investment Fund and other multilateral development banks. When selecting implementing partners under the Member State compartment, the Commission should take into account the proposals made by each Member State. In accordance with [Article 154] of the [Financial Regulation], the Commission must carry out an assessment of the rules and procedures of the implementing partner to ascertain that they provide a level of protection of the financial interest of the Union equivalent to the one provided by the Commission.deleted

2018/10/10
Committee: REGI

(37) In the context of the InvestEU Fund, there is a need for capacity building support to develop the organisational capacities and market making activities needed to originate quality projects. Moreover, the aim is to create the conditions for the expansion of the potential number of eligible recipients in nascent market segments, in particular where the small size of individual projects raises considerably the transaction cost at the project level, such as for the social finance ecosystem. The capacity building support should therefore be complementary and additional to actions undertaken under other Union programmes that cover a specific policy area. Particular effort should also be made to support the capacity building of potential project promoters, in particular local and regional service provider organisations and authorities.

2018/10/10
Committee: REGI

Proposal for a regulation
Recital 40

(40) A solid monitoring framework, based on output, outcome and impact indicators should be implemented to track progress towards the Union’s objectives. In order to ensure accountability to European citizens, the Commission should report annually to the European Parliament and the Council on the progress, impact and operations of the InvestEU Programme, and on the coordination, complementarity and consistency with other Union policies and instruments, especially the funds under shared management.

2018/10/10
Committee: REGI

Proposal for a regulation
Article 5 – paragraph 1 – introductory part

~~The EU compartment of the InvestEU Fund referred to in point (a) of Article 8(1) and e~~Each of the policy windows referred to in Article 7(1) may receive contributions from the following third countries in order to participate in certain financial products pursuant to [Article 218(2)] of the [Financial Regulation]:

2018/10/10
Committee: REGI

Proposal for a regulation
Article 6 – paragraph 4 a (new)

4a. Financing and investment operations covered by the EU guarantee under the Member State Compartment which form part of blending operation combining support under this Regulation with support provided under one or more other Union programmes can be implemented under shared management.

2018/10/10
Committee: REGI

Proposal for a regulation
Article 7 – paragraph 1 – point a

(a) sustainable infrastructure policy window: comprises sustainable investment in the areas of transport, energy, digital connectivity, supply and processing of raw materials, space, oceans and water, waste, nature and other environment infrastructure, equipment, mobile assets and deployment of innovative technologies that contribute to the environmental or social sustainability objectives of the Union, or to both, ~~or meet the environmental or social sustainability standards of the Union~~as well as to the long- term sustainable development of the region in which the operation is taking place;

2018/10/10
Committee: REGI

Proposal for a regulation
Article 7 – paragraph 4

4. Implementing partners shall provide the information necessary to allow the tracking of investment that contributes to meeting the Union objectives on climate and environment, as well as on the European Pillar of Social Rights, based on guidance to be provided by the Commission.

2018/10/10
Committee: REGI

Proposal for a regulation
Article 12 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 2

~~For the EU compartment, t~~The eligible counterparts sthallt have expressed their interest and shall be able to cover financing and investment operations in at least three Member States, with the exception of blending operations as defined in Article 2 point (a). The implementing partners may also cover together financing and investment operations in at least three Member States by forming a group.

2018/10/10
Committee: REGI

Proposal for a regulation
Article 19 – paragraph 2 – subparagraph 3

The experts shall have a high level of relevant market experience in project structuring and financing orin the field of regional development and of financing of SMEs or corporates.

2018/10/10
Committee: REGI

Proposal for a regulation
Article 20 – paragraph 2 – point c

(c) supporting actions and leveraging local and regional knowledge to facilitate the use of the InvestEU Fund support across the Union and contributing actively where possible to the objective of sectorial and geographical diversification of the InvestEU Fund by supporting the implementing partners in originating and developing potential financing and investment operations;

2018/10/10
Committee: REGI

Proposal for a regulation
Article 20 – paragraph 6 a (new)

6a. The InvestEU Advisory Hub shall be in contact with local, regional or national authorities managing European Structural and Investment Funds to guide project promoters to those projects, which could be supported with funds under shared management.

2018/10/10
Committee: REGI