President Markkula: EU Investment Plan has potential but must bring benefits to all of Europe's regions

The EU Investment Plan must be directed towards small-scale projects, take advantage of the expertise of Europe's local governments and avoid exasperating regional disparities, the President of the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) said today. Speaking at the European Economic Congress in Poland today, the CoRs' President - Markku Markkula - welcomed the Plan which he argued could boost Europe's ailing economy, but called for measures to be put in place to ensure investment is attracted to all regions and complements, without overlapping, EU structural funding.

President Markkula was speaking on the first day of this year's European Economic Congress 2015 held in Katowice, Poland. Moderated by Jerzy Buzek i - Member of the European Parliament, President Markkula was joined among others, by European Commissioners Elżbieta Bieńkowska i (Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs) and Jyrki Katainen i (Vice-President for Jobs, Growth, Investment and Competitiveness). The CoRs' President explained that Europe's regions and cities recognised the Plan's potential, "Its approach and objectives must be commended - if it attracts the projected €315bn investment from the private sector this could make all the difference to both Europe's local and regional governments - who are being hit by cuts - and businesses who need greater access to finance financing".

In a lively discussion, President Markkula echoed the CoRs' concerns raised in its opinion adopted last week. Despite supporting the Plan the President said that the EU had to ensure the new European Fund for Strategic Investment (EFSI) target all regions and avoid further exasperating regional disparity. Though being responsible for 55% of public investment and carrying out 75% of EU legislation, cities and regions had been ignored he said, "To make this plan a success it must focus on small-scale local quality projects and pull on the expertise of Europe's cities and regions. It is disappointing they are still not yet genuinely involved in governance or contributing to project selection".

President Markkula congratulated Commissioner Katainen for proposing to establish national and regional platforms for investment supported by EFSI guarantees which could help implement the Plan mobilising key actors locally to drive growth. The President added that the Plan must complement EU structural funds and improve synergies with existing EU instruments. Referring to EFSI funding, the CoR President called for exploring all alternative sources and exploiting the flexibility margins offered by the EU budget, before diverting funds taken from the allocations of Connecting Europe Facility and Horizon 2020 - as proposed by the Commission. The CoR has already established a working partnership with the European Investment Plan to simplify procedures and speed-up the implementation for projects under the Juncker Plan and existing EU structural funds.