Regulation (EU) 2021/523 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 March 2021 establishing the InvestEU Programme and amending Regulation (EU) 2015/1017

• Published date: 26 March 2021
• Date of Signature: 24 March 2021
• Official Gazette Publication: Official Journal of the European Union, L 107, 26 March 2021

26.3.2021 EN Official Journal of the European Union L 107/30

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REGULATION (EU) 2021/523 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL

of 24 March 2021

establishing the InvestEU Programme and amending Regulation (EU) 2015/1017

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and in particular Article 173 and the third paragraph of Article 175 thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the European Commission,

After transmission of the draft legislative act to the national parliaments,

Having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee (1),

After consulting the Committee of the Regions,

Acting in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure (2),

Whereas:

(1) The COVID-19 pandemic is a major shock to the global and Union economy and is having a major social and economic impact across Member States and regions. Due to the necessary containment measures, economic activity in the Union dropped significantly. The contraction in Union GDP in 2020 is expected to be around 7,4 %, far deeper than during the financial crisis in 2009. Investment activity has dropped significantly. Vulnerabilities such as the over-reliance on non-diversified external supply sources and a lack of critical infrastructure need to be addressed, in particular for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), including micro-enterprises, for instance by diversifying and strengthening strategic value chains, to improve the Union’s emergency response as well as the resilience of the entire economy, while maintaining its openness to competition and trade in line with its rules. Even before the pandemic, while a recovery in investment-to-GDP ratios in the Union could be observed, it remained below what might be expected in a strong recovery and was insufficient to compensate for years of underinvestment following the 2009 crisis. More importantly, the current investment levels and forecasts do not cover the Union’s needs for structural investment to restart and sustain long-term growth in the face of technological change and global competitiveness, including for innovation, skills, infrastructure, SMEs and the need to address key societal challenges such as sustainability and population ageing. Consequently, in order to achieve the Union’s policy objectives and to support a swift, sustainable, inclusive, lasting and healthy economic recovery, support is necessary to address market failures and suboptimal investment situations and to reduce the investment gap in targeted sectors.

(2) Evaluations have underlined that the variety of financial instruments delivered under the 2014-2020 Multiannual Financial Framework period has led to some overlaps in their scope. That variety has also produced complexity for intermediaries and final recipients who were confronted with different eligibility and reporting rules. The absence of compatible rules also hampered the combination of several Union funds, although such combinations would have been beneficial in order to support projects in need of different types of funding. Therefore, a single fund, the InvestEU Fund, which builds on the experience of the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) set up under the Investment Plan for Europe, should be set up in order to provide more efficiently functioning support to final recipients by integrating and simplifying the financing offered under a single budgetary guarantee scheme, thereby improving the impact of Union support while reducing the cost to the Union payable from the budget.

(3) In recent years, the Union has adopted ambitious strategies to complete the internal market and to stimulate sustainable and inclusive growth and jobs. Such strategies include ‘Europe 2020 – A strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth’ of 3 March 2010, ‘Action Plan on Building a Capital Markets Union’ of 30 September 2015, ‘Closing the loop – An EU action plan for the Circular Economy’ of 2 December 2015, ‘A European Strategy for Low-Emission Mobility’ of 20 July 2016, ‘Space Strategy for Europe’ of 26 October 2016, ‘Clean Energy for all Europeans’ of 30 November 2016, ‘European Defence Action Plan’ of 30 November 2016, ‘Launching the European Defence Fund’ of 7 June 2017, the Interinstitutional Proclamation on the European Pillar of Social Rights of 13 December 2017, ‘A new European Agenda for Culture’ of 22 May 2018, the ‘European Green Deal’ of 11 December 2019, the ‘European Green Deal Investment Plan’ of 14 January 2020, the ‘Strong Social Europe for Just Transitions’ of 14 January 2020, the strategy for ‘Shaping Europe’s digital future’, ‘A European Strategy for Data’ and the White Paper ‘On Artificial Intelligence - A European approach to excellence and trust’ of 19 February 2020, ‘A New Industrial Strategy for Europe’ of 10 March 2020 and ‘SME Strategy for a sustainable and digital Europe’ of 10 March 2020. The InvestEU Fund should exploit and reinforce synergies between those mutually reinforcing strategies by providing support for investment and access to financing. In addition, the Union has adopted Regulation (EU) 2020/852 of the European Parliament and of the Council (3).

(4) At Union level, the European Semester of economic policy coordination is the framework for identifying national reform priorities and monitoring their implementation. Member States, where appropriate in cooperation with local and regional authorities, develop their own national multiannual investment strategies in support of those reform priorities. Those strategies should be presented alongside the yearly national reform programmes as a way of outlining and coordinating priority investment projects that are to be supported by national funding, Union funding, or both. Those strategies should also use Union funding in a coherent manner and maximise the added value of the financial support to be received in particular from the European structural and investment funds, the Recovery and Resilience Facility established by Regulation (EU) 2021/241 of the European Parliament and of the Council (4) and the InvestEU Programme.

(5) The InvestEU Fund should contribute to improving the competitiveness and socio-economic convergence and cohesion of the Union, including in the fields of innovation and digitisation, to the efficient use of resources in accordance with the circular economy, to the sustainability and inclusiveness of the Union’s economic growth and to the social resilience and integration of Union capital markets, including through solutions that address the fragmentation of Union capital markets and that diversify sources of financing for Union enterprises. To that end, the InvestEU Fund should support projects that are technically and economically viable by providing a framework for the use of debt, risk sharing and equity and quasi-equity instruments backed up by a guarantee from the Union budget and by financial contributions from implementing partners as relevant. The InvestEU Fund should be demand-driven, while at the same time focused on providing strategic, long-term benefits in relation to key areas of Union policy which would otherwise not be funded or would be insufficiently funded, thereby contributing to meeting the Union’s policy objectives. Support from the InvestEU Fund should cover a wide range of sectors and regions, but should avoid excessive sectoral or geographical concentration and should facilitate access to financing of projects composed of partner entities in multiple regions across the Union, including projects that foster the development of networks, clusters and digital innovation hubs.

(6) The cultural and creative sectors are key as well as fast growing sectors in the Union that can play an important part in ensuring a sustainable recovery, generating both economic and cultural value from intellectual property and individual creativity. However, restrictions on social contacts put in place during the COVID-19 crisis have had a significant negative economic impact on those sectors. Moreover, the intangible nature of assets in those sectors limits the access of SMEs and organisations from those sectors to private financing which is essential to be able to invest, scale up and compete at an international level. The InvestEU Programme should continue to facilitate access to finance for SMEs and organisations from those sectors. The cultural and creative, audiovisual and media sectors are essential for freedom of speech and cultural diversity and for building democratic and cohesive societies in the digital age, and are an intrinsic part of our sovereignty and autonomy. Investment in those sectors would determine their competitiveness and their long-term capacity to produce and distribute high-quality content to wide audiences across national borders.

(7) With a view to fostering sustainable and inclusive growth, investment and employment, and thereby contributing to improved well-being, to fairer income distribution and to greater economic, social and territorial cohesion in the Union, the InvestEU Fund should support investments in tangible and intangible assets, including in cultural heritage. Projects funded by the InvestEU Fund should meet Union environmental and social standards, including standards on labour rights. Interventions through the InvestEU Fund should complement Union support delivered through grants.

(8) The Union endorsed the objectives set out in the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (the ‘2030 Agenda’), its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Agreement adopted under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (5) (Paris Agreement) as well as the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction

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