Investment Plan for Europe: stock-taking and next steps

Key points:

The EESC

• welcomes the Investment Plan for Europe for its contribution to the promotion of investment in the EU and more effective utilisation of limited financial resources for the purpose of strategic pan-European investments as a new type of EU financial redistribution;
• recommends setting an investment target in the EU as one of the criteria for a long-term and sustainable investment policy;
• considers that further guidance would be necessary to achieve greater geographical and sectoral balance in achieving the strategic goals of the Investment Plan for Europe as well as the InvestEU programme;
• calls for regulatory simplification is needed when combining several programmes or projects;
• calls for more effort be made to get the Member States on board to supporting large- scale European projects such as SESAR, ERTMS or the EU smart grid, as this is one of the most important added-values of the InvestEU Programme;
• very much supports the Commission's effort to identify the primary obstacles to more intensive investment activities in the areas of the Single Market environment, integrating infrastructure, education and skills requirements, and the alignment of state-aid rules;
• calls on the EU authorities to strengthen InvestEU's financial capacity within the Multiannual Financial Framework 2021-2027;
• proposes to enhance the scope of the InvestEU programme in order to provide European companies with the necessary guarantees that enable them to invest outside the EU area and promote EU trade;
• strongly recommends that the Commission step up its efforts to raise awareness among European businesses and citizens about the benefits obtained from the Investment Plan for Europe, especially with regards to SMEs, thus making them aware of the EU contribution.