COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT pursuant to Article 294(6) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union concerning the position of the Council on the adoption of a Decision of the European Parliament and of the Council granting an EU guarantee to the European Investment Bank against losses under loans and loan guarantees for projects outside the European Union and repealing Decision No 633/2009/EC
Date: 2011-09-23
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EIB loan, credit guarantee, financing method

EUROPEAN COMMISSION 

Brussels, 23.9.2011 
COM(2011) 597 final 

2010/0101 (COD) 

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION 
TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT 

pursuant to Article 294(6) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union 

concerning the 

position of the Council on the adoption of a Decision of the European Parliament and of 
the Council granting an EU guarantee to the European Investment Bank against losses 
under loans and loan guarantees for projects outside the European Union and repealing 
Decision No 633/2009/EC 

 
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
2010/0101 (COD) 

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION 
TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT 

pursuant to Article 294(6) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union 

concerning the 

position of the Council on the adoption of a Decision of the European Parliament and of 
the Council granting an EU guarantee to the European Investment Bank against losses 
under loans and loan guarantees for projects outside the European Union and repealing 
Decision No 633/2009/EC 

1. 

BACKGROUND 

Date of transmission of the proposal to the European Parliament and 
to the Council 
(document COM((2010) 174) final – 2010/101 COD): 

21 April 2010 

Date  of  the  opinion  of  the  European  Economic  and  Social 
Committee: 

Not applicable 

Date of the position of the European Parliament, first reading: 

17 February 2011 

Date of transmission of the amended proposal: 

Not applicable 

Date of adoption of the position of the Council: 

20 September 2011 

2. 

OBJECTIVE OF THE PROPOSAL FROM THE COMMISSION 

Decision  No  633/2009/EC  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  13  July  2009 
grants  an  EU  guarantee  to  the  European  Investment  Bank  (EIB)  against  losses  under  loans 
and loan guarantees for projects outside the EU in order to further the contribution of the EIB 
to the fulfilment of EU policy objectives through the financing of projects. 

The proposal tabled by the Commission aims at amending Decision 633/2009/EC following a 
mid-term review of the application of the EIB external mandate, as established by Decision 
633/2009/EC. 

3. 

COMMENTS ON THE POSITION OF THE COUNCIL 

3.1 

General comments on the Council position at first reading 

The Commission can fully accept the Council position which is the outcome of constructive 
negotiations  between  the  three  institutions.  It  is  in  line  with  the  essential  objectives  and  the 
underlying approach of the Commission's initial proposal. 

3.2 

Agreement at the stage of the Council's position 

EN 

2 

   EN 

 
 
 
The Council's position is the result of intensive inter-institutional negotiations which followed 
the adoption by the European Parliament of its position at first reading on 17 February 2011. 

Following the trilogue negotiations, on 27 June 2011, the Chairman of the BUDG Committee 
of the European Parliament, Mr Alain Lamassoure, sent a letter to the Hungarian Presidency 
confirming that should the Council adopt as its position at first reading the text approved by 
the  ECOFIN  (subject  to  legal-linguistic  verification),  he  would  recommend  to  the  BUDG 
Committee  and  then  to  the  Parliament  as  a  whole  in  plenary  session,  that  the  Council's 
position be accepted without amendment at Parliament's second reading. The General Affairs 
Council reached a political agreement on this basis on 18 July 2011. 

The  main  points  which  were  negotiated  and  agreed  upon  by  the  three  institutions  are  the 
following: 

a) 

The amount of the regional ceilings:  

–  EUR  1bn  increase  of  the  ceiling  for  the  Southern  Neighbourhood  region.  An  increase  of 
4%  of  all  other  regional  and  sub-regional  ceilings  of  the  general  mandate;  the  overall 
increase would be of around EUR 1.7 bn (on top of the EUR 2bn additional climate change 
mandate). 

–  The  above  increases  would  be  flagged  to  be  of  a  temporary  nature  and  with  soft 
conditionality (increases dedicated to countries undertaking political reform as assessed by 
the Commission with the involvement of the EEAS). 

–  In terms of flexibility, the EIB governing bodies may decide to reallocate an amount of up 
to 10% of the regional ceilings of the general mandate within and between regions (it used 
to be only between regions). 

–  b)  Development aspects:  

Some amendments were introduced at the request of the EP focussing on the need for EIB to 
better report and assess the development, social, environmental and human rights impact of its 
activities  (e.g.  by  defining  specific  performance  indicators  and  thoroughly  monitoring  those 
aspects throughout the lifecycle of a project). 

The text has been clarified further to reflect that the EIB's support to poverty reduction and 
the  achievement  of  Millennium  Development  Goals  would  mainly  be  indirect  by  fostering 
inclusive growth and sustainable economic and social development through the financing of 
operations following the general objectives set out in the Decision.  

c) 

Country eligibility:  

Following  recent  political  developments,  Belarus  will  not  be  declared  eligible  (while  it  will 
remain 'potentially' eligible). 

The Commission will be empowered to activate the mandate for potentially eligible country 
or  also  to  deactivate/suspend  it  through  delegated  acts  (under  the  previous  Decision,  this 
would  have  required  an  ordinary  legislative  procedure).  This  will  allow  the  Commission  to 
more  rapidly  activate/suspend  the  mandate  in  certain  countries  if  political  circumstances 
change. 

EN 

3 

   EN 

 
From a technical point of view, two lists have been set up in Annexes to the Decision: the list 
of  all  potentially  eligible  regions  and  countries  and  the  list  of  actually  eligible  regions  and 
countries  (the  second  one  only  comprising  country  from  the  first  one).  The  Commission 
would be empowered to modify the second list by delegated acts.  

d) 

EU Platform on Cooperation and Development: 

It  has  been  agreed  that  the  Commission  will  set  up  and  chair  a  Group  of  Experts  (GoE)  to 
study  the  concept  of  an  EU  Platform  for  Cooperation  and  Development.  The  GoE  will  be 
composed  by  the  Commission,  EEAS,  Member  States  and  EIB.  Other  financial  institutions 
will be consulted but not be permanent members of the GoE. 

e) 

Regional policy framework: 

Recitals (15), (16), (17), (18), (19) and (20) in the Commission proposal were moved to a new 
Annex IV "regional policy framework", after appropriate redrafting. 

4. 

CONCLUSION 

The  Commission  fully  supports  the  results  of  the  inter-institutional  negotiations  and  can 
therefore accept the Council's position at first reading. 

EN 

4 

   EN