Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2012-10-25-Speech-4-444-000"
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"en.20121025.32.4-444-000"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner, here we are again, for the third time, in this House. If you will allow me, I would like to begin by thanking all the shadow rapporteurs and rapporteurs for opinion for the work they have done to contribute to this report.
In general terms, I think we can say that both Parliament and the Commission agree on the importance of the financial instruments and on the characteristics that they need to have, but we do not believe that the proposal responds to all the needs: these instruments are going to have a very positive effect, but unfortunately that will be in the short and medium term, and we need to seek a long-term response.
We know that there are massive savings seeking secure, reliable financial products for investment. We need to be capable of mobilising those savings in order to be able to finance projects in the medium and long term that generate sustainable development in the European Union.
Therefore, in this report I call on the Commission to work on proposals that can connect those savings with the investment needs, and I also ask it to work on a legal and regulatory environment that is conducive to their development, especially with regard to rules on long-term investments under the prudential rules Basel III and Solvency II. I do not know whether, in his speech, the Commissioner can tell us something now about the Commission’s work in this respect, but I am sure that the idea will be raised during the debate.
Finally, and although the Council is not with us, I would like to ask it to join with Parliament and the Commission because our proposals are along the same lines.
There are three fundamental reasons why innovative financial instruments are an essential tool for helping us to get back on the path towards smart, sustainable and inclusive growth:
Firstly, because since the mid-1990s, public investment has been constantly declining in the European Union and, moreover, this trend has worsened with the eruption of the financial crisis in 2008.
Secondly, because project promoters and SMEs are faced with an increasingly restrictive market and do not have access to credit or to the capital markets.
Thirdly, because according to the Commission’s own estimates, implementing the Europe 2020 strategy is going to require EUR 1.6 billion.
Thanks to the financial support provided by these instruments, we will help to increase the volume of investments in projects that we consider to be strategic for the development of the EU and which otherwise, due to market failure or sub-optimal investment situations, would not have received that funding. In addition, the application of financial instruments will help to ensure that finances serve the real economy and benefit projects with added European value.
The European Union has been using these instruments since 2000 and, with the experience acquired since then and the evaluations that we have, we can improve the design for the future.
We believe that we need to restrict the number of instruments and extend their scope of application: in this way we are going to improve their visibility for actors, we will expand their critical mass and diversify the risk thanks to a portfolio approach. In addition, the creation of equity and debt platforms will simplify and give greater coherence to the instruments. We also need a simpler, clearer and more transparent legal framework that does not increase the administrative burden on intermediaries and recipients and which is attractive to public and private investors.
Another requirement that we consider to be fundamental is that these instruments be flexible and that therefore they have the capacity to adapt swiftly to change. We therefore ask that the budgetary authority, in other words Parliament and the Council, have the opportunity to adjust the amount allocated to each instrument according to needs and its use."@en1
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