Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2012-10-25-Speech-4-451-000"
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"en.20121025.32.4-451-000"2
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".
Mr President, for some time the Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe has wished that the EU budget would not simply give out subsidies, but would also promote specific policy through loans and guarantees, and through new financial instruments. We have actually been working towards this for many years, and we are therefore very pleased about the announcement made by the Commission. There are many good ideas, and I think that it is worth reminding people that in the European Investment Bank we have achieved genuine success – a genuine European success story. In these difficult times, it is a good idea to remind each other that we also have success stories.
We must acquire more capital in order to carry out projects within areas such as research, innovation and transport infrastructure. Consequently, there are widely differing areas in which it is possible to raise money via the markets with the aid of the EU budget, and, as many people have pointed out, we can in this way have a far greater positive effect on our competitiveness, on our growth, on our employment, and that after all is ultimately what it is all about.
The Commission is proposing a very broad range of instruments, and the Commission has adopted the right approach in that regard. However, it has not been said that the new financial instruments could replace the subsidies, or that the EU budget could be reduced by the same amounts, a point which has also been emphasised by the Commissioner.
I would also like to emphasise the example we have with project bonds for which a pilot project is now underway – and I am glad to hear that that is the case – where EU guarantees will make it possible for major transport and energy projects to be financed as cheaply as possible on the lending market through the issuing of bonds. Such a lending market currently exists in the USA, where pension funds and other institutional investors can invest their money in infrastructure and thereby have a secure liquid investment with a reasonable rate of return.
The intention of the pilot project is after all to test: is there any interest in such a market in Europe? This can be started up and, over the course of a number of years, we could end up with such a market in line with the USA, such that we can overcome the problem of national treasuries being empty, and having no opportunity to finance transport infrastructure via national treasuries.
However, not all types of project will generate this level of interest; therefore there must still be subsidies. Overall, I would like to say: we firmly back the Commission’s proposal; it constitutes a limited expense for the EU budget, and there is no risk that we will be liable for any more money than has been allocated in the budget; thus it makes good sense. Thank you!"@en1
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