Today, the EU Task Force on Investment published a report showing that there is significant potential for investment in Europe. It identifies around 2,000 projects across Europe worth some €1.3 trillion of potential investments, out of which over €500 billion worth of projects could potentially be implemented over the next three years. Many of these projects are currently not being realised due to financial, regulatory or other barriers.
Vice-President Jyrki Katainen, responsible for
Jobs, Growth, Investment and Competitiveness, said: "Today's report
shows there are huge investment needs and viable projects that could lift
economic growth and open up more job opportunities in Europe. There has been a
severe disconnect between the available investment and credible projects on the
ground. We are now taking a big step to restore investor confidence and connect
the two."
EIB President Werner Hoyer said: “The
work of the Task Force demonstrates that there are enough investment projects
in Europe. Member States provided a great number of proposals on which we can
build upon to create a pipeline of projects and ensure we put money where it
can best meet demand. Now we need to assess the projects and select those that
are economically viable and can best foster the competitiveness of Europe´s
economy. The EIB stands ready to finance those projects on the list, as well as
any other, that meet the relevant viability and strategic relevance criteria.
It is also urgent to tackle the significant non-financial barriers identified
by the Task Force that prevent investment for viable projects from
materialising.”
A transparent pipeline of investment projects
The report recommends immediate action to create a
transparent pipeline of investment projects. The identification of projects by
the Task Force is a first step towards creating a forward-looking and
transparent pipeline of investable projects. This is an essential measure to
restore confidence and encourage investors to invest and build expertise in
Europe. The lack of credible and transparent information about projects is
currently a major barrier to investment.
The central idea is to provide a pipeline of trustworthy
projects which will restore investor confidence and unlock private sector
investment to complement finance from Member States and the EU. Projects may
successfully access funding from the private sector alone, through Member
States or other sources of EU funding, including the newly created European
Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI).
The Task Force focused on projects in key
growth-enhancing areas: knowledge, innovation and the digital economy;
energy union; transport infrastructure; social infrastructure; and natural
resources and the environment. It has also analysed investment with regard to
the SMEs and Mid-Caps, the backbone of the EU economy in terms of job creation,
innovation and growth.
The lists of projects provided by the Member States and
Commission to the Task Force, published today, is a starting point. It does not
exclude other potentially viable investments from being included at any given
time. Any project identified by the Task Force will have to be assessed
thoroughly before being considered for finance. There are no automatic
financing commitments by the European Commission or the EIB for projects identified
by the Task Force and these projects are not entitled to preferred
access to national or European resources.
The Task Force has recommended actions to take:
1Improve the business environment
Priority should be given to removing
significant regulatory and non-regulatory barriers across all the
important sectors of infrastructure including: energy, telecoms, digital and
transport, as well as barriers in services and product markets and further
measures to deepen the Single Market. This includes better regulation and
deeper, less fragmented capital markets. At the same time, Member States must
continue to implement structural reforms that promote a predictable and
conducive business climate.
2. Develop national long-term investment plans
Member States need to give a political commitment to develop strategic
long-term investment plans and exchange best practices on economically
viable projects. These, together with project pipelines, could be published on
dedicated websites.
3. Provide technical assistance to help develop sound
investment projects
The report recommends that the EU should set up an advisory
hub as a one-stop-shop offering a continuous service of advice and expertise
for project promoters, investors and public authorities. The EU should also
provide advice on project structuring to help promoters attract additional
private investment to projects with EU added value.
4. Carry out value for money assessments
For viable projects, Member States should carry out value-for-money
assessments to identify the most efficient solutions for structuring projects.
The Commission and the EIB should provide advice and develop guidelines on this
issue.
5. Promote innovative financial instruments
The report proposes that the European Commission and the EIB
should promote the use of innovative financial instruments to catalyse private
investments in projects of EU significance. Member States should also
accelerate the use of financial instruments, especially under the European Structural
and Investment Funds.
The Task Force report concludes that focusing on the right
reforms, expanding the role of the private sector and developing an EU
infrastructure market will help lift economic growth, competitiveness,
employment and social wellbeing.
Next Steps: The Task Force report will be
discussed by Economic and Finance Ministers (ECOFIN) on 9 December and
presented to EU Heads of State and Government at the European Council on 18-19
December.
Background: The Special task force (Member States,
European Commission, European Investment BankB) on investment in the EU was
jointly led by the European Commission and the European Investment Bank (EIB)
and included representatives of all EU Member States. It was set up in
September at
the request of EU Economic and Finance Ministers and was mandated to
identify concrete actions to boost investment, including a pipeline of
potentially viable projects of European relevance to be realised in the short
and medium term. This was welcomed
by EU leaders in October, who asked for the report to be presented to them
at their next European Council meeting in December.
More information:
The full Task Force Report can be found here:
