Sven Giegold

InvestEU: boost for climate investment

Today, European Parliament and Council together with the EU Commission reached a conclusion in the inter-institutional negotiations on InvestEU. The agreement follows a Commission proposal published in June 2018. The new investment programme will bring together various programmes such as the Juncker Plan („EFSI“) and several sector-specific programmes for EU-wide and regional projects under one umbrella. Such investment programmes function through a risk-reducing EU guarantee, which considerably reduces the projects’ financing costs on the market. In total, EU guarantees amounting to 40.8 billion euros in the period from 2021 to 2027 shall finance projects with an estimated investment volume of around 700 billion euros. The figures are subject to an overall agreement to the EU’s multiannual financial framework. As single point of entry, InvestEU will offer a better overview and advice for different funding pools and standardise project applications.

Today’s deal set the climate spending of the sustainable infrastructure funds at 55% while Commission and Council suggested 50%. After today’s political agreement, there will be further technical work before the text needs the formal approval by European Parliament and Council.

MEP Sven Giegold, financial and economic policy spokesperson of the Greens/EFA group and Green shadow-rapporteur for the ECON committee commented:

“InvestEU will bring a boost for climate investment. It is a Green success that InvestEU will have a strong focus on climate spending and finance the sustainable transformation of our economies. Ensuring that all financed projects are subject to climate proofing will favour more sustainable investment projects and help to get green investments out of the niche. The programme’s rule to finance no project that are inconsistent with the EU’s climate objectives is a big achievement that will help to fulfill our commitments in the Paris Agreement. It is a shame that the Council has effectively watered down the Parliament’s more ambitious climate spending target.”

MEP Jordi Solé, Greens/EFA shadow-rapporteur for the BUDG committee commented:

“InvestEU will enhance regional cohesion in Europe, because not only big players like the European Investment Bank, but also national and regional development banks will have access to the funds. This will allow people everywhere in Europe to benefit from EU investment.

MEP Tilly Metz, Greens/EFA shadow-rapporteur for the ITRE committee commented:

“We managed to improve the programme’s democratic accountability and transparency during the negotiations. Citizens have a right to know where and how EU money is spent. It is a bitter pill that we were unable to exclude the defence sector from the programme against the resistance of Christian Democrats, Liberals and Conservatives.

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