Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-02-14-Speech-3-197"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20010214.5.3-197"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:translated text |
"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, may I first thank Parliament’s President and Bureau for suggesting that, for the first time, the President of the European Investment Bank should be invited to speak at a plenary session on the occasion of the discussion of the report of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs on the activities of the EIB.
I now turn to assessing the real impact of the projects financed by the EIB, as a number of speakers have rightly dwelt upon this aspect. In particular, recommendation 4 calls upon the EIB to undertake an in-depth study of the real contribution made by projects to regional development.
First of all, I should like to point out that, since 1995, the EIB has had an independent unit for
evaluation of projects, a unit whose reports are transmitted directly to the board of directors, without any possibility of their being changed by the hierarchy or the Management Committee. These reports are then made available to the public and Mr Lipietz’s report in fact refers to a number of these. The initial reports were, of course, fairly critical. Why? Because we asked this newly created unit to concentrate first on those cases which we considered to be most problematic.
Today, we have reports covering a larger number of projects and the evaluation results are distinctly more encouraging. Thus a recent report dealing with a number of projects in northern Portugal and southern Italy shows that the vast majority of these have had a positive, and in some cases very positive, impact on the development of the regions concerned.
However, the same report emphasises the importance of further refining the methodology, particularly in order to identify more diversified and more specific criteria for improving the selection
of the projects that are most promising for regional development. That is why, in close cooperation with the staff of the Commission’s Directorate-General for Regional Policy, we are currently working on developing a battery of performance indicators for loans for regional projects.
I would add that similar work is under way on evaluating global loans, that is, the loans that we grant to intermediary banks for lending either to SMEs or to local authorities. Here again we are endeavouring to improve the ways of verifying that these loans are indeed used for the benefit of SMEs and that the most favourable terms are passed on to the ultimate recipients of these loans.
With regard to external monitoring of the bank, I can only unreservedly endorse recommendation 10. I should like to confirm before you that the agreement entered into in 1999 between the Court of Auditors, the Commission and the EIB concerning the bank’s activities based on Community resources is being implemented to the satisfaction of all the parties concerned and that, of course, the EIB will continue to meet its obligations
the Court of Auditors resulting from that agreement. I should also like to confirm that we are currently negotiating a similar agreement with the Court of Auditors with regard to monitoring the European Investment Fund, which has become a subsidiary of the EIB. I would add that we are amenable to any practicable form of banking supervision. This is a matter that has been discussed by your committee. We are completely open to any proposals in this connection. In any case, in the short term perhaps the most practicable approach is no doubt to strengthen the Audit Committee by seeing to it that members are appointed who have experience and expertise in the field of banking supervision.
Finally, with regard to the policy of transparency, we are willing to sign up to the guidelines set out in recommendation 11. However, we must emphasise that, unlike the institutions referred to in your rapporteur’s text, the majority of the EIB’s clients are private commercial companies and obviously do not want the confidentiality that is standard practice in commercial negotiations not to be observed in relations with the EIB. But, subject to that reservation, we have decided to move towards greater transparency.
I am thus able to announce to you that we are going to publish on our website a list of all projects in the pipeline, before they are even submitted to the board of directors, except of course where the promoter has good reason to object on grounds of confidentiality. With that sole proviso, all projects will be announced on our website.
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, the European Investment Bank is, as you know, unlike other banks. It was established to serve the objectives of the European Union. It is therefore only natural that it should be called upon to explain itself before the European Parliament. I thank you for giving me the opportunity to do so today and am delighted that I shall be able to continue the dialogue in the future, as Mrs van den Burg has kindly suggested.
I regard it as an honour, but also as a sign of Parliament’s desire to take an interest in the activities of all the European institutions, in order to ensure that the voice of the citizens it represents is heard more effectively. May I also reiterate in Parliament what I have already had the opportunity to stress at committee level, namely how much I appreciate the constructive dialogue that has been established with the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, at the instigation of its Chair, Mrs Randzio-Plath. With regard to Mr Lipietz’s report, I found it both stimulating and useful, and I can tell you that work has already started on implementing a number of the recommendations made in the draft resolution.
I shall, if I may, deal with both these recommendations and the questions put by the honourable Members in the following order: first, the bank’s operational priorities, followed by evaluation methods and, finally, external monitoring and the policy of transparency.
To begin with, the bank’s operational priorities. I should like to point out that the new Corporate Operational Plan, which covers the period 2001-2003, redefines our priorities along the lines proposed in recommendations 3 and 5. We have, in fact, included among the five priorities adopted by our board of directors, and here I quote, “encouraging environmental protection and sustainable development, in particular implementation of the Kyoto Protocol”. This approach in practice already existed, given that last year lending for projects contributing directly towards improvement of the environment amounted to EUR 6.4 billion within the European Union, an increase of 39% compared with the previous year, and EUR 740 million in the candidate countries.
In addition, we have reorganised our Projects Directorate in order to ensure that the environmental impact of the projects for which finance is sought from us is systematically evaluated. With regard in particular to our contribution towards implementation of the Kyoto Protocol, a general policy note will be submitted to our board of directors in May.
Having said that, this emphasis on the environment must not, as Mrs Peijs very aptly put it, make us forget the other priorities, which I shall very rapidly refer to. Regional development: we consider that at least two thirds of lending within the European Union must go towards projects located in assisted areas.
Support for the Lisbon strategy: we intend, over the next three years, to advance project finance totalling EUR 12 to 15 billion in the fields accorded priority by the Lisbon European Council and, of course, as Mrs van den Burg has suggested, we shall have to take account of the conclusions of the Stockholm Summit.
Preparing the candidate countries for accession: over the next three years we intend to earmark between EUR 3 and 4 billion a year to projects aimed at helping the candidate countries to satisfy the conditions for accession, especially with regard to transport infrastructure, the importance of which Mr von Wogau has rightly stressed.
Lastly, I would mention as the final priority support for the Community’s cooperation policy, notably in the context of the recent Cotonou Agreement."@en1
|
| lpv:unclassifiedMetadata |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples