(fra europaparlaments- og rådsforordningen)

(1) The Union faces massive financing needs to deliver on its objectives in the areas of innovation, the green and digital transition, and social investment and skills, while a complex backdrop affecting the Union’s competitiveness and industrial base characterised by changing global dynamics, slow economic growth, accelerated climate change and environmental degradation, technological competition and rising geopolitical tensions needs to be addressed. In that context, enhancing the Union’s autonomy, in particular in the area of energy, by supporting investments that strengthen a renewable-based and clean energy system and technologies, is essential to reduce dependencies and safeguard economic and political stability.

(2) Additionality and the leveraging effect of the EU guarantee are the foundation of both the European fund for strategic investments, established by Regulation (EU) 2015/1017 of the European Parliament and of the Council (3), (EFSI) and the InvestEU Programme established by Regulation (EU) 2021/523 of the European Parliament and of the Council (4), enabling, in particular, the scaling up of new and innovative technologies and companies, and de-risking investment for private investors. Oversight by the European Parliament and the Council helps to ensure that the EU guarantee is used in accordance with the objectives of the InvestEU Programme.

(3) The report entitled ‘The future of European competitiveness’ (the ‘Draghi report’) assesses the combined additional investment needs in Europe at EUR 750-800 billion per year by 2030, of which EUR 450 billion are needed for the energy transition alone. That amount includes a substantial sum for the green and digital transition. Ensuring sufficient public and private investment is critical to boost productivity growth and achieve Union’s goals, leverage private investments with the objective to decarbonise industry, accelerate the production, storage and deployment of clean energy and electrification, strengthen interconnections and grids, advance sustainable and circular business models, foster sustainable building renovation, develop clean tech manufacturing as well as digital technologies and their diffusion across economic sectors.

(4) The Union is experiencing a housing crisis which consists of two market failures, namely a shortage of affordable and social housing and a failure to bridge the energy efficiency gap. Through an increased EU guarantee available under the social investment and skills policy window of the InvestEU Fund and enhanced visibility and accessibility of financial support in relation to housing, the Union and InvestEU implementing partners can provide substantial support for the key priority of social investments and skills, including for affordable social housing, while also contributing to the implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights.

(5) In light of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, the Union is faced with an acute need to significantly enhance security, its Defence Technological and Industrial Base and military mobility. Through an increased EU guarantee available under the relevant policy windows of the InvestEU Fund, enhanced visibility and accessibility of financial support in relation to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), middle capitalisation companies (mid-caps) and start-ups in the defence supply chain, the Union and InvestEU implementing partners can provide important support for this key priority.

(6) Initiatives such as InvestEU’s export credit guarantee facility play an important role in supporting the Ukrainian economy. Wide participation by European export credit agencies is key to the effectiveness of that facility.

(7) Well-functioning transport networks and services are important to ensure a transition towards a green economy while strengthening the Union’s competitiveness. In that regard, investments in the trans-European transport networks are needed to complete missing links and to modernise transport infrastructure, where major gaps exist in public and private financing.

(8) The InvestEU Fund is the main tool at Union level to leverage public and private funding to support a broad range of Union policy priorities. Through its comprehensive network of implementing partners, including the European Investment Bank (EIB), the European Investment Fund (EIF), other international financial institutions and national promotional banks and institutions, the InvestEU Fund is delivering much-needed financing through its risk-sharing capacity. The InvestEU interim evaluation, completed in 2024, highlighted that budgetary guarantees are inherently efficient for the Union budget and confirmed that the InvestEU Programme was well on track to mobilise investment, with a notable expected impact on the real economy. However, approvals of financing and investment operation under the InvestEU Programme were heavily frontloaded, and as a result, if no action is taken to address the issue, new approvals for some financial products could cease after 2025.

(9) It is important that the financial capacity of InvestEU Fund be increased and used more efficiently when combined with resources that will become available under EFSI and other legacy instruments, namely the CEF Debt Instrument established by Regulation (EU) No 1316/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council (5) and the InnovFin Debt Facility established under Regulations (EU) No 1290/2013 (6) and (EU) No 1291/2013 (7) of the European Parliament and of the Council, implemented by the EIB Group. Those combinations could reduce the budget revenues from those legacy instruments. However, those combinations would also make it possible to provide an increased volume of guarantee cover for strategic investments in key Union priority areas that can be expected to lead to the mobilisation of an additional investment of around EUR 25 billion and to an increased diversification of risks, without substantially increasing the risks for the Union budget.

(10) With the EUR 2,9 billion increase in the EU guarantee underpinned by the additional reflows of EUR 1,16 billion, and the efficiency measures implemented by combining the capacities of the legacy instruments with the InvestEU Fund, it is expected that around EUR 55 billion in additional investment could be mobilised. It is necessary to proportionally adjust the financial contribution of the EIB Group to the share of the increased EU guarantee allocated to it. The indicative distribution of the EU guarantee between the four policy windows of the InvestEU Fund should be increased proportionally to the increase of the EU guarantee. The use of those reflows from legacy instruments to the benefit of the InvestEU Fund is without prejudice to the negotiations on the post-2027 multiannual financial framework.

(11) InvestEU advisory services play an important role in the development of a pipeline of projects. Those advisory services are particularly useful in complex areas, such as affordable social housing and defence. It would therefore be appropriate to use EUR 40 million in reflows to increase the amount to be made available for such services. Furthermore, it is necessary to enhance the interaction between the various components of the InvestEU Programme, in particular between the InvestEU Advisory Hub and the InvestEU Portal.

(12) The Commission estimates the amount of provisioning required to cover future life-time losses from the operations supported under the InvestEU Fund with a 95 % confidence level of the value at risk. As part of its ongoing efforts to harmonise the risk-management framework for budgetary guarantees, the Commission is planning to review the methodologies applied across both internal and external policies.

(13) In order to enhance the attractiveness of the Member State compartment under the InvestEU Fund, it should be possible for Member States to contribute also in a fully funded manner, from funds under shared management, from the Recovery and Resilience Facility established by Regulation (EU) 2021/241 of the European Parliament and of the Council (8) or from Member State resources, through an InvestEU financial instrument in addition to the existing option of contributing to the EU guarantee. Support from the InvestEU financial instrument should, to the extent possible, be implemented following the same principles as those of the EU guarantee. Through the InvestEU financial instrument, non-euro Member States could benefit from the InvestEU Programme financially more efficiently in their own currency. The InvestEU financial instrument should also provide a further incentive for responsibly increasing the risk appetite of the implementing partners thereby contributing to the crowding-in of private capital.

(14) In order to use the compartments in a complementary manner to support a given financing or investment operation, it is possible to combine amounts allocated to the Member State compartment with resources under the EU compartment in a layered structure, with a first loss tranche covered by national resources. To ensure coherence with the objectives of the InvestEU Programme, such combinations should respect the principles of EU added value, fair competition, and the integrity of the internal market, and should support cross-border cooperation where relevant.

(15) In line with the overall objective of simplification in order to alleviate the administrative burden for final recipients, financial intermediaries and implementing partners, reporting requirements, including those relating to key performance and monitoring indicators, should be reduced, where appropriate, in particular those that affect small businesses and small-size operations. That simplification should not impact the quality of the data received from final recipients where those data are not covered by the proposed reduction in reporting requirements. Without prejudice to the definition of small and medium-sized enterprise (‘SME’) for the purposes of other Union acts and any future programmes and funds, the application of the definition of an SME for the purposes of the InvestEU Programme should be adjusted to remove complexities to the extent possible. Specific attention should be paid to social economy enterprises and microfinance institutions. It is important to recall that the accounting rules laid down in Directive 2013/34/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council (9), including the rules on consolidation, apply, thereby helping to safeguard the integrity of the definition of SMEs and to ensure that Union support reaches its intended beneficiaries. Where necessary for implementation purposes, and without prejudice to Regulation (EU) 2021/523, it is appropriate that the criteria under the simplified definition be interpreted in line with the principles laid down in the relevant provisions of Annex I to Commission Recommendation 2003/361/EC (10). It is necessary for implementing partners or, in the case of intermediated financial products, financial intermediaries, to ensure full compliance with the eligibility conditions for SMEs, including by verifying the SME status of final recipients, in particular by the accurate calculation of employee headcount and turnover within the relevant perimeter of the firms, and, where relevant, through the proper application of consolidation rules to prevent circumvention through holdings or similar structures.

(16) It is appropriate for the Commission to consider taking further non-legislative simplification measures in order to complement this amending Regulation, such as reducing the frequency of progress reports to be submitted by implementing partners in order to reduce the workload of implementing partners, financial intermediaries and final recipients without changing any of the substantive elements of Regulation (EU) 2021/523.

(17) It is important that State aid procedures applicable to operations supported under the InvestEU Fund be proportionate, predictable and streamlined. Where relevant, it is important that the Commission continue to explore available means to simplify and accelerate State aid assessments. Furthermore, the revision of Commission Regulation (EU) No 651/2014 (11) should further clarify and simplify the application of State aid rules in the context of the InvestEU Programme.

(18) The frequency and scope of reports should also be reduced for the InvestEU Programme and its predecessor, EFSI.

(19) Regulations (EU) 2015/1017, (EU) 2021/695 (12) and (EU) 2021/1153 (13) of the European Parliament and of the Council should be amended to allow for combinations of support under those Regulations and the EU guarantee under Regulation (EU) 2021/523, as amended by this Regulation.

(20) For the Commission’s accounting, implementing partners should, in relation to combinations of support, be required to provide audited financial statements in accordance with Article 212(4) of Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2024/2509 of the European Parliament and of the Council (14), clearly delineating the amounts related to the different legal bases.

(21) Since the objectives of this Regulation, namely to address Union-wide and Member State specific market failures and the investment gap within the Union, to accelerate the Union’s green and digital transition, to enhance its competitiveness and to strengthen its industrial base, cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States, but can rather be better achieved at Union level, the Union may adopt measures, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty on European Union. In accordance with the principle of proportionality as set out in that Article, this Regulation does not go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve those objectives.

(22) In order to support the European Parliament and the Council in exercising their institutional roles, the independent final evaluation report on the InvestEU Programme should comprise a comparative assessment of the InvestEU Programme’s performance before and after the entry into force of this amending Regulation including its derogations and regulatory adjustments,