Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2012-04-18-Speech-3-546-000"
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"en.20120418.26.3-546-000"2
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"Mr President, in June 2011, the European Council encouraged the Commission and the EIB to enhance the synergies between loan programmes for Greece and EU funds. The aim was to increase Greece’s capacity to absorb EU funds and to stimulate growth and employment creation.
In recent years, cohesion policy has been mobilised several times to contribute to the changing needs of Member States under severe crisis conditions. Excellent interinstitutional cooperation made it possible to shape tailor-made crisis assistance, which was available within a short time. I therefore call on the Members of the European Parliament to give their support to this legislative proposal.
In July 2011, the Heads of State or Government of the euro area and the EU institutions extended the scope of that political mandate. They invited the Commission and the EIB to enhance the synergies between loan programmes and EU funds in all Member States benefiting from EU or International Monetary Fund assistance.
In January 2012, the European Council invited the Council, the Commission and the EIB to consider possible options for enhancing EIB action to support growth, including the possibility of using the EU budget to leverage the EIB Group’s financing capacity.
In October 2011, the Commission adopted a proposal to amend Council Regulation (EC) No 1083/2006. The objective was to enable the use of available allocations under programmes cofinanced by the European Regional Development Fund and Cohesion Fund to back up guarantees and loans granted by the EIB or by other national or international bodies with a public mission offering adequate guarantees – the so-called ‘risk sharing instrument’.
The target Member States are those experiencing serious difficulties with respect to financial stability and which have been granted financial assistance according to one of the existing mechanisms. The measure is intended to address the serious obstacles faced by some Member States, particularly Greece, in raising the private financing needed to implement infrastructure and productive investment projects, which can only be part-financed by public funds. This is particularly the case for infrastructure projects which generate net revenues, the value of which cannot be covered by grants financed through cohesion policy instruments. It is also the case for productive investments, for which the maximum allowable public aid is capped by State aid rules.
The recent approval of an increased rate of cofinancing by the EU to 95% is part of the EU response to the crisis. However, it is not enough, in particular, for the revenue-generating projects, since the investment costs covered by revenues are not eligible for EU cofinancing. The measure proposed is an exception to the normal framework in which cohesion policy is implemented and is justified by the circumstances imposed by the crisis. Since the publication of the Commission’s proposal, there has been intense debate with the Council and Parliament.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank the members of the Committee on Regional Policy and, in particular, its chair, Ms Hübner, for her support in this process. I would also like to thank the members of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs and of the Committee on Budgetary Control and their rapporteurs for their support.
The adoption tomorrow of the Hübner report will open the way to securing strategic investment projects financed by cohesion policy without increasing the EU budget allocated to it and without having a significant impact on the EU budget. It will facilitate the implementation of important transport and environment infrastructure, as well as other economic infrastructure projects which will provide a much-needed boost to economic activity and job creation in Greece.
In Greece alone, the effective implementation of important infrastructure projects in the transport sector will, it is estimated, create some 50 000 new jobs. Other Member States most affected by the current financial and economic crises may also benefit from this legislative proposal."@en1
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