Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2012-07-04-Speech-3-438-000"
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"en.20120704.28.3-438-000"2
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"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, this title relating to investments in trans-European networks and so on actually conceals a very interesting report on project bonds. The title should perhaps have reflected this, but it does not really do that.
Finally, I would like to say a big thank you to everyone who has helped to chisel out this important solution: my colleagues in the Committee on Budgets, in particular the shadow rapporteurs, the European Commission, the European Investment Bank and, last but not least, the Danish Presidency. We hope now that the Cyprus Presidency can finally bring this matter to a successful conclusion.
Europe’s economic future is not just about measures to deal with the acute crisis. It is just as much about boosting the sustainable development of the economy and jobs in the long term and, above all, increasing those investments that will promote growth – both private and public.
This is where the role of the EU is crucial. In order to bring together the different parts of Europe and to exploit the potential inherent in the fact that we, in fact, comprise 500 million people in a common internal market, it is necessary for us to be able to make strategic investments – in transport, in a modern infrastructure, in the energy sector, in the digital sector, and so on. This is absolutely crucial in order for us to succeed in our goals of smart and sustainable growth for everyone.
The economic crisis is not merely a consequence of the collapse in the banking and financial sector; it is also a result of the fact that, for a long time, the level of European investments has been inadequate. The need for investments is therefore enormous now. In the transport, energy and IT sectors, the Commission estimates that there is a need for EUR 1 500 billion up to 2020. That is an enormous amount of money that the EU cannot mobilise on its own. Therefore, the majority of it will, of course, be financed by the private sector, but also by national, regional and local authorities.
However, with the current tight restrictions on public budgets and the increased capital adequacy requirements for banks and so on., we need to find new ways to move forward. One of these ways is the development of innovative financial instruments which, with a certain amount of budgetary support from the EU, should be able to attract additional capital.
Project bonds are just such an instrument. The proposal involves enabling project companies, by means of loans from the European Investment Bank, guaranteed by the EU budget, to issue bonds which will then be more secure and more attractive on the market. The EU’s contribution should be able to raise the credit rating of these projects, which will make them something that pension funds, for example, would be interested in investing in. It is important to emphasise, however, that these are private bonds from project companies and not public EU bonds.
The Commission’s proposal, which is supported by the Committee on Budgets, involves us redistributing EUR 230 million within the EU budget for the project bonds for 2012-2013. That is not a great deal of money, but the Commission is counting on this money being able to mobilise perhaps 15 to 20 times that sum from other players. Then it becomes significant. That portion of the contribution is capped to the guaranteed amount that is set aside in the budget. There will therefore be no increase in the EU’s expenditure. If all goes well, the costs will be zero, but we will be helping to boost growth in Europe.
We must remember, however, that project bonds are just one piece in this investment puzzle in which they need to be evaluated. My hope is that it will be possible to develop them further along the lines suggested in recent weeks by the President of the Commission, Mr Barroso, and also mentioned at the EU summit and the G20, for example.
I would also like to draw attention to other ideas. I think that, in our analyses and evaluations, we ought to examine whether, by improving this proposal, we can reach new types of investors. Can we reach small and medium-sized projects by means of project portfolios, for example? Can we help to create a more liquid bond market in Europe? Could we perhaps even give some thought to the question of so-called Delors bonds – European project bonds guaranteed by the EU budget? I think at the very least we need to discuss this matter."@en1
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