MEPs from the Budgetary and ECON committees adopted with 71 votes to 17 and 7 abstentions the renewed EU programme to support investments and guarantee access to finance. It will address market failures, sub-optimal investments and the investment gap in targeted sectors, for the period 2021-27
Aim to generate at least €1 200 billion in investments
Launchpad for investments which otherwise would be difficult to finance
Solvency support to help companies overcome the COVID-19 crisis
InvestEU aims to be a fund that provides support to
EU investors by integrating and simplifying the financing, offered under
a single budgetary guarantee scheme.
On
Wednesday evening, MEPs from the Budgetary and Economic and Monetary
Affairs committees adopted with 71 votes to 17 and 7 abstentions the
renewed EU programme to support investments and guarantee access to
finance. It will address market failures, sub-optimal investments and
the investment gap in targeted sectors, for the period 2021-27.
Six policy objectives mirroring key EU priorites
The EU guarantee of around €91.8 billion
(current prices) is expected to mobilise more than €1 200 billion in
additional investment across the European Union and should be allotted
to the following policy objectives:
- Solvency support: MEPs reintroduced this, as not all companies have
the same level of access to market financing and certain member states
may not have sufficient budgetary means available to provide adequate
support to companies hit by the COVID-19 crisis. It will help recovering
companies, safeguard employment levels, and counter-balance the
expected distortions in the single market (up to around €11 billion);
- Sustainable infrastructure: investment in the areas of sustainable
transport and road safety, rail and road infrastructure, renewable
energy, energy efficiency renovation projects, digital connectivity,
environmental and climate resilience research (up to around €20
billion);
- Innovation and digitisation (up to around €11 billion);
- Access to finance primarily for SMEs, including for innovative SMEs
and SMEs operating in the cultural and creative sectors, as well as
small mid-cap companies (up to €5 billion);
- Social investment and skills (up to around €6 billion);
- Strategic European investment: future-oriented investment, including
in critical healthcare, manufacturing of medicinal products and
critical infrastructure, whether physical, analogue or digital (up to
around €31 billion);
Background
Despite numerous initiatives to address the situation, there is still a significant investment gap in the EU. The InvestEU programme (part of the MFF 2021-2027 package “EU budget for the future”) aims to deal with this problem.
InvestEU would bring together the
various EU financial instruments currently available, including: the
European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI); the Connecting Europe Facility instruments; specific facilities under the Competitiveness Of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (COSME) programme; as well as specific guarantees and facilities under the Employment and Social Innovation programme
(EaSI). Together, these will benefit from economies of scale, and
expand the Juncker Plan’s model (i.e. using guarantees from the EU
budget to bring in other investors).
InvestEU will consist of the InvestEU Fund, the InvestEU Advisory Hub, and the InvestEU Portal (More information).
Next steps
Parliament will vote on its mandate to start negotiating with EU governments during the session in November.
© European Parliament
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