InvestEU: Council agrees its position on an improved instrument to support investment, growth and jobs in the EU
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The EU is consolidating its financial offer to support investment and job creation in the Union in a more effective way.
EU ambassadors endorsed the Council’s position on a Commission proposal to bring together under one programme the 14 different financial instruments currently available to support investment in the EU. The agreement excludes budget-related and horizontal issues which are currently being discussed as part of the negotiations on the EU’s next multiannual financial framework (MFF) for the period 2021 to 2027. The position agreed today will serve as the basis for the Presidency in its negotiations with the European Parliament which are set to start as soon as possible. In parallel, the Council continues constructive work on the location of the Investment Committee Secretariat.
“Europe needs more investment to support growth and jobs. The InvestEU programme will play a significant role in helping finance ambitious and far-reaching infrastructure projects. We must ensure that as many sectors and regions as possible in Europe are able to benefit from the programme.”
Eugen Teodorovici, minister of finance of Romania
The aim of InvestEU is to encourage public and private investor participation in financing and investment operations by providing guarantees from the EU budget to address failures and sub-optimal investment situations. According to the Council’s position, this EU guarantee is divided under the following policy windows:
- sustainable infrastructure
- research, innovation and digitalisation;
- SMEs;
- social investment and skills.
InvestEU builds on the success of the European fund for strategic investments (EFSI) which was launched in July 2015 to boost investment and stimulate economic growth and employment in the EU, at a time when Europe was still recovering from the financial and economic crisis.
The main partner will be the European Investment Bank Group (EIB) which has implemented and managed the EFSI. In addition, national promotional banks and international financial institutions active in Europe will have direct access to the EU guarantee.
The Council text also provides for the possibility for member states to channel some of their allocated cohesion policy funds to the InvestEU fund, adding to the EU guarantee provisioning.
As regards governance arrangements, the Council has agreed upon a different setup for the InvestEU programme compared to the EFSI. While still reflecting the central role and expertise of the EIB, it also takes account of the fact that the new programme will be a one-stop-shop for all existing instruments and that other implementing partners than the EIB will have the possibility to directly access the EU guarantee. According to the Council position, the InvestEU programme should be governed by:
- a steering board, composed of four representatives of the Commission, three representatives of the EIB and two representatives of other implementing partners, charged with determining the strategic and operational guidance for InvestEU.
- an advisory board consisting of representatives of the implementing partners and representatives of member states and providing advice to the Commission and the steering board.
- on the financing and investment side, an investment committee composed of independent experts and responsible for providing external expertise in investment assessments in relation to projects.
Next steps
The European Parliament adopted its position on InvestEU on 16 January 2019. On the basis of this partial negotiating mandate, the Presidency will start negotiations with the Parliament as soon as possible.
Text of the partial negotiating mandate
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