Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2009-03-24-Speech-2-356"
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"en.20090324.30.2-356"2
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"Mr President, this afternoon, on behalf of the Commission, I want to welcome the President of the European Investment Bank, Mr Maystadt, and the President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Mr Mirow. Before this House, I want to thank them both, and also their institutions, for their extremely positive cooperation with the Commission, particularly during this difficult struggle with the economic crisis.
Mr Seppänen, thank you very much for your words and for your efforts as rapporteur on a subject which has been difficult, but which has had a happy outcome, as you yourself have said; namely, the agreement at first reading to solve the legal problems that had arisen surrounding the external mandate of the European Investment Bank or EIB.
This external mandate allows us, through the actions of the EIB and in coordination with European policies, to take very firm and effective action on policies and areas of special interest to the European Union and to all the European institutions, including this Parliament.
The Commission expresses its satisfaction that, from now on, Parliament will be directly involved in discussions on this external mandate. However, we must also warmly thank both Parliament and the Council for the flexibility that they have shown in reaching agreement quickly enough to avoid creating or increasing uncertainty, before the end of this year, over the possibility of continuing to use the resources and tools of this external mandate.
For our part, the next Commission will, at the beginning of 2010, present the corresponding legal text to this Parliament and the Council. We hope that once again at first reading, we will be able to ensure legal stability for an external mandate that, as I said before, allows European policies of interest to us all to be developed.
I also want to congratulate Mr Mitchell and thank him for his report. This is the first time that a report has referred not only to the European Investment Bank, but also to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, or EBRD. We feel it is right to deal with these two financial institutions together, particularly at the current time when the effectiveness of their actions must serve to reinforce our policies on the economic crisis, and when cooperation between these two institutions is especially important.
We are asking both banks to make a huge effort. In the recovery plan adopted at the end of last year, we asked both institutions to considerably increase their lending capacity at a time when they too are finding it difficult to raise finance from the markets.
They are responding to this call for increased activity by acting in those areas which we feel are a priority, as Mr Mitchell has said, such as small and medium-sized enterprises, the energy efficiency sector and other areas as well. In particular, we are extremely satisfied with the agreement reached by both banks with the World Bank, in a joint initiative to strengthen their financial instruments and improve their efficiency in the use of their lending instruments in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, which are experiencing an especially difficult situation.
We hope that, between now and next year, the groundwork and discussions of the group of experts set up by the Council and the Commission, in agreement with Mr Maystadt, to consider the future of the EIB’s external mandate, and also the strategic review of the EBRD, which will also take place at the beginning of the next term of this Parliament and the next Commission, will allow us, at a calmer time than currently in terms of the economic situation, to continue using their know-how, lending facilities, financial resources, human resources and experience to assist the policies that we all agree must be the ones to guide the future direction of the European Union in the next decade."@en1
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