Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-02-17-Speech-4-009-000"
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"en.20110217.4.4-009-000"2
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"Mr President, the current mandate of the European Investment Bank for its operations outside of the European Union expires at the end of October. The European Parliament and the Council have to agree on the conditions for its extension beyond that date.
The proposed increase in ceilings amounts to about EUR 1.7 billion, and would allow the bank to at least maintain the intensity of its activities in the pre-accession countries, and especially in the Mediterranean region. In recent years, at the request of the Council, this financing has been intensified. Therefore, the EU has to make an additional effort to support the economies of the countries of the Western Balkans and North Africa, especially in these times.
This would not involve substantial costs, whereas the benefits of achieving the EU’s objectives in these regions would be very high. We ask the European Investment Bank to develop a stronger capacity for assessing and reporting on development, environment, and the human rights aspects of their projects.
It will have to ask loan promoters to consult local stakeholders before deciding on projects. We reconfirm the good practices of the bank in avoiding working with partners incorporated in non-cooperative jurisdictions and using tax havens. We propose to establish a working group that will suggest better cooperation and blending of the funds from different donors by the middle of 2012.
A working party will analyse current practices as regards the disbursement of development assistance by the EU and the Member States, in order to increase its efficiency and the visibility of Europe as the major development assistance provider in the world. (debate)
Parliament has discussed the issue very thoroughly over several months. During that period we discussed many ideas and tried to listen to the opinions of many stakeholders. We held dozens of meetings, both outside and within Parliament, between the political groups working on the text.
I should like to take this opportunity to thank very much all my colleagues from the political groups, and the administration, for their dedication, their work based on the highest professional standards, and their endeavouring to achieve a broad consensus on a mandate for the European Investment Bank that will make a difference in fulfilling the EU’s objectives. I also thank very much the European Investment Bank and the Commission for their constant support and advice, which was very valuable for our work.
Now we have a draft decision to be voted by Parliament which provides for more coordination between the European Investment Bank and the other EU bodies, for more transparency and stakeholder participation, and for a better monitoring and reporting system: a decision that will improve the visibility of the impact of the bank’s activities.
With this decision, we shall start elaborating the common EU position with the Council. The draft decision preserves the very successful profile of the European Investment Bank as a top-rated financial institution and investment bank. At the same time, being an EU institution, the European Investment Bank is expected to contribute better to the goals of the Union through its specific means and tools.
The changes proposed are based on accumulated experience and on the understanding that the profile of the European Investment Bank as a top-rated investment bank should not be jeopardised.
Parliament proposes much better coordination between the External Action Service, the Commission and the Bank in implementing the EU’s external policy objectives. The European Investment Bank will have to devise development and environment impact parameters and report on their completion. It will indirectly contribute to the eradication of poverty and to climate change mitigation in the developing countries, and stimulate small and medium-sized enterprises and the development of local communities.
The monitoring and reporting systems guarantee more transparency, better access to information and increased possibilities for the stakeholders to give their opinion at an early stage of the consideration of the projects. An additional sum of EUR 2 billion will be released for use in environment-related projects. This should contribute to the efforts of the European Union partner countries to finance efforts to implement climate-related policies. Let us hope that this new instrument will create incentives for the potential recipient countries to commit more to the climate-related goals of the European Union.
Parliament suggests, also, an increase in the ceilings of the EU guarantees to be used by the Bank. At first glance this is a very difficult decision, because it is extremely sensitive for the Member States. Any increase in the ceilings means effectively a 9% contribution to the Guarantee Fund, but on the other hand this is an extremely good instrument creating leverage and attracting more funding institutions to the EIB projects."@en1
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