Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-02-15-Speech-4-025"
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"en.20070215.3.4-025"2
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".
Mr President, I should first like to thank your rapporteur, Mr Montoro Romero for his extremely thorough analysis of the activities of the European Investment Bank (EIB). Mr Montoro Romero put in a great deal of personal effort: he came to the Bank, asked a great many questions and, with the help of his colleagues, has produced a report that gets to the very kernel of the EIB's strategic objectives.
These are the remarks I wanted to make, Mr President. I can in any event confirm to you that, having read the motion for a resolution very carefully, we are prepared to implement its recommendations. Furthermore, if Parliament so wishes, we would be ready to draw up a report in one year’s time on the state of play regarding the implementation of these recommendations.
These strategic objectives are encapsulated perfectly in the motion for a resolution, and I can inform you that the Bank unreservedly accepts the recommendations contained therein. As regards the priorities covered in paragraphs 2 to 10 of the motion for a resolution, we shall be pursuing our activities according to the proposed guidelines, including in the field of energy. The latter was rightly addressed by a number of speakers, and I can tell you that in the Business Plan for the next three years, we have decided to lend at least EUR 4 billion per year for energy-related projects, including at least EUR 800 million for renewable energy sources.
Furthermore, we have set ourselves one rule, which will, admittedly, not be easy to observe, but this is the rule we have set ourselves: we want at least half of the new production capacity for electricity that we shall be called on to fund to be linked to renewable energy.
A further axis of our activities in the area of energy will of course be that of improving energy efficiency. I have taken note of Mr Turmes’ specific proposals. I can tell him that, in several Member States, we are already funding social housing renovation programmes so as to improve energy efficiency, and are naturally ready to broaden our activities in this area, which, as you said, is crucial to our future.
Still on the recommendations in the first part of the motion for a resolution, mention is made of the EIB’s representation in the Nordic countries, an issue also raised by Mr Krats. I can confirm to him that the EIB has in principle taken a decision to open a representative office in the Nordic countries. The interested Member States are working together and once an agreement has been reached between them, we shall be opening the office.
Whilst on the subject of the EIB’s external offices, I noted Mr Olajos’ question about the EIB’s new offices in regions particularly affected by the Jaspers programme. We have decided to open three new offices. The first, in Warsaw, is already open, and the two others, in Bucharest and Vienna, will be open in the next two months. Mr Olajos wondered why Vienna had been chosen; he mentioned other possibilities, such as Budapest, Prague and Bratislava. Vienna was chosen because the Member States concerned were not able to reach agreement, and so Vienna appeared as the compromise choice.
To return now, more systematically, to the different forms of cooperation with the Commission mentioned by Mr Almunia, I wish to say to you that there are three important new initiatives: the Jeremie Programme, which is a very original programme for transforming the structural funds into renewable financial instruments; the Jaspers Programme to which I have already alluded, which is a form of technical assistance to help identify and prepare major projects that can be financed by the structural funds; and lastly, the Jessica Programme in the area of urban renewal.
Furthermore, still with the Commission, we have finalised a new guarantee fund for funding trans-European networks and a research facility, as mentioned by Mr Katzimarkakis, which forms part of the new financial instruments that Mrs Starkevičiūtė was seeking. This is just one example of innovations in the area, and should enable us, I repeat, to act, in conjunction with the Commission, as a lever to help markedly increase funding for research and innovation.
A number of speakers mentioned the role that the European Investment Fund could play. The Fund will expand still further with support for SMEs thanks to increased capital currently in preparation and thanks to an extra envelope of EUR 1 billion, via the ‘competitiveness and innovation' framework programme, leading to more innovative financial products benefiting new-start small businesses in particular."@en1
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