46.

Considers the NGEU initiative to be the pillar of the first phase of the EU’s industrial recovery from COVID-19; calls on the Commission to ensure that the fund is swiftly implemented swiftly, and demands that Parliament be fully involved in the decision-making and implementation process, to ensure democratic accountability and maximise transparency and parliamentary control; demands that, for an effective frontloading of the EUR 750 billion, the NGEU: (a) foresees targets for social, sustainable and digital investments, with a view to minimising detrimental impacts and maximising benefits in the climate, environment and social dimension; (b) has a specific focus on SMEs, which have been hit the hardest by the COVID-19 crisis, and supports their access to finance; (c) is directly managed, where possible, by the Commission in close cooperation with Member States and through European programmes, in order to move forward in a more coordinated way, so as to better impact the global market and maximise transparency and parliamentary control, as well as to avoid internal and external distortion and disruption of the single market; (d) takes into account the specificities of the Member States, which have been hit by the crisis in diverse ways; (e) distributes the financial aid among the different industrial ecosystems, including microbusinesses and SMEs, according to the damage suffered, the social impact, the challenges faced and the amount of national financial support already received through national aid schemes, taking into account the structural interdependencies between the different value chains; takes into account the lessons learnt from the previous public support measures in responding to the 2008-2009 economic and financial crisis and its impact on resilience and long-term economic and social recovery; takes into account that the fund must be conditional on criteria that ensure that funding is not used to pay off old debts or sustain outdated technology and that companies which contribute to long-term growth are supported and have strong potential to revive the economy; takes into account that recovery spending should also be channelled towards high-multiplier, climate- and innovation-friendly sectors that will contribute to the EU’s future economic resilience; (f) supports national fiscal schemes that incentivise private sector equity investment and allow companies to convert part of the loans given by the Fund into equity; (g) allocates dedicated funding to companies, in particular SMEs, microbusinesses and start-ups, which have business plans and operations involving key innovations, technologies and services, including advancing the digital and green transformation, or whose operations are necessary for the strategic autonomy of the Union in critical sectors, with particular reference to enhanced circularity, resource and energy efficiency and savings and a switch to renewables; helps make our supply chains more resilient and less dependent by reshoring, diversifying and strengthening them, while avoiding discrimination against companies going through an emergency that are in need of being accompanied in their transition; (h) dedicates funding to large companies having credible plans to transition to a climate-neutral business model; (i) strengthens the EIB guarantees programme and makes it complementary to national programmes, so that it can function as a valuable addition and strengthen their impact on the ground; (j) gives preference to companies that commit to transparency, ensure visibility of EU funding, put in place systems encouraging the participation of workers in company matters, and comply with their non-financial reporting obligations;