Juncker plan should not increase development gaps nor duplicate existing EIB actions - EU regions say
CoR Rapporteur Gewerc: "Project selection criteria must ensure that EFSI trigger new investment that otherwise would not happen and complement cohesion policy programmes"
Regional and local leaders discussed with representatives of the European Investment Bank i (EIB) and European Commission the territorial impact of the European Fund for Strategic Investment i (ESIF) during the last meeting of the Commission for Territorial Cohesion Policy (COTER) of the Committee of the Regions i (CoR). The debate highlighted the need to ensure territorial balance in the fund intervention as well as the involvement of regions and cities via the establishment of regional investment platforms.
The Committee of the Regions is assessing the Juncker plan's potential impact on cities and regions and will deliver its proposals to improve the ESIF regulation by April. Presenting the first elements of his draft opinion to COTER colleagues on 2nd March, the rapporteur, Claude Gewerc (FR/PES), President of the Picardy Region, argued: "We need to make sure that the new fund will channel private investment towards the right projects, making them attractive. The proposed top-down approach, excluding regional and local authorities from the governance and the development of the project pipeline, can seriously compromise the plan's effectiveness since regions and cities are best placed to identify projects with a real impact on our economies, capable of delivering jobs and justifying the use of the EU budget." This is particularly true when it comes to supporting Small and Medium Enterprises or energy efficiency initiatives.
COTER members shared the rapporteur's concerns in relation to the actual additionality of the proposed plan. The danger of crowding out is made even greater given that national contributions to the EFSI will not be included in Stability and Growth Pact calculations, unlike national and regional co-financing of cohesion policy programmes. Besides these worries, regional and local leaders want to understand how to prevent the proposed project selection criteria ending up increasing disparities and leaving the most disadvantaged areas out of the new fund scope.
Speaking on behalf of the European Commission, Mr Maarten Verwey, ECFIN i Deputy Director-General, acknowledged that the need to avoid any concentration risks in the fund's intervention could be made more explicit but, at the same time, warned against any national earmarking and reiterated that the principle of 'juste retour' cannot be applied in this context. In this respect, the possible establishment of regional investment platforms, supported by the EFSI, was one of the most promising issues raised during the discussion. At the moment such platforms are just a concept but regions' and cities' representatives insisted on their strategic relevance and on the potential benefit of a joint management by local and regional authorities together with local and national investment banks. It is urgent, therefore, to clarify how they will work and to boost CoR cooperation with the EIB in this field.
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