Legal provisions of COM(2016)597 - Extension of the duration of the European Fund for Strategic Investments and the introduction of technical enhancements for that Fund and the European Investment Advisory Hub - Main contents

Please note

This page contains a limited version of this dossier in the EU Monitor.

dossier	COM(2016)597 - Extension of the duration of the European Fund for Strategic Investments and the introduction of technical enhancements for ...
document	COM(2016)597
date	December 13, 2017

Article 1
Article 2
Article 3

Article 1

Regulation (EU) 2015/1017 is amended as follows:

(1)

In Article 2(4), point (b) is replaced by the following:

‘(b)	cross-border, multi-country, regional or macro-regional platforms that group together partners from several Member States, regions or third countries interested in projects in a given geographic area;’;

(2)

Article 4(2) is amended as follows:

(a)

point (a) is amended as follows:

(i)

point (ii) is replaced by the following:

‘(ii)

the amount, of no less than EUR 7 500 000 000 in guarantees or cash, and the terms of the financial contribution which is to be provided by the EIB through the EFSI;’;

(ii)

point (iv) is replaced by the following:

‘(iv)

the pricing of operations under the EU guarantee which is to be in line with the EIB’s pricing policy;’;

(iii)

the following point is added:

‘(v)

the procedures to contribute, without prejudice to Protocol No 5 on the Statute of the European Investment Bank annexed to the TEU and to the TFEU and the EIB prerogatives set out therein, to a reduction of the financing cost of the operation borne by the beneficiary of the EIB financing under EFSI, in particular by modulating the remuneration of the EU guarantee, where necessary in particular in situations where stressed financial market conditions would prevent the realisation of a viable project or where necessary to facilitate the establishment of investment platforms or the funding of projects in sectors or areas experiencing a significant market failure or suboptimal investment situation, to the extent it does not significantly impact the necessary financing of the provisioning of the Guarantee Fund;’;

(b)

in point (b), point (iii) is replaced by the following:

‘(iii)

a provision that the Steering Board is to take decisions in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 7(3);’;

(c)

in point (c), point (i) is replaced by the following:

‘(i)	in accordance with Article 11, detailed rules on the provision of the EU guarantee, including its arrangements on coverage, its defined coverage of portfolios of specific types of instruments and the respective events triggering possible calls on the EU guarantee;’;

(3)

Article 5(1) is replaced by the following:

‘1. For the purposes of this Regulation, ‘additionality’ means support by the EFSI for operations which address market failures or sub-optimal investment situations and which could not have been carried out during the period in which the EU guarantee can be used, or not to the same extent, by the EIB, the EIF or under existing Union financial instruments, without EFSI support. Projects supported by the EFSI shall support the general objectives laid down in Article 9(2), shall strive to create employment and sustainable growth and shall typically have a higher risk profile than projects supported by normal EIB operations. Overall, the EFSI portfolio shall have a higher risk profile than the portfolio of investments supported by the EIB under its normal investment policies before the entry into force of this Regulation.

To better address market failures or sub-optimal investment situations, and to facilitate, in particular, the use of investment platforms for small-scale projects, thereby ensuring complementarity and thus avoiding crowding out participants in the same market, EIB special activities supported by the EFSI shall, as a preferred way and if duly justified:

(a)	have features of subordination, including the taking of junior positions vis-à-vis other investors;

(b)	participate in risk-sharing instruments;

(c)	demonstrate cross-border characteristics;

(d)	be exposed to specific risks; or

(e)	have other aspects as further described in point (d) of Section 3 of Annex II.

Without prejudice to the requirement to meet the definition of additionality as set out in the first subparagraph, the following elements are strong indications of additionality:

—

projects that carry a risk corresponding to EIB special activities, as defined in Article 16 of the EIB Statute, especially if such projects present country-, sector- or region-specific risks, in particular those experienced in less developed regions and transition regions and/or if such projects present risks associated with innovation, in particular in growth-, sustainability- and productivity-enhancing unproven technologies,

—	projects that consist of physical infrastructure, including e-infrastructure, linking two or more Member States or of the extension of such infrastructure or services linked to such infrastructure from one Member State to one or more Member States.’;

(4)

Article 6 is amended as follows:

(a)	in paragraph 1, the introductory wording is replaced by the following: ‘The EFSI Agreement shall provide that the EFSI is to support projects which address market failures or sub-optimal investment situations and which:’;

(b)

paragraph 2 is replaced by the following:

‘2. There shall be no restriction on the size of projects eligible for EFSI support for the operations conducted by the EIB or the EIF via financial intermediaries. In order to ensure that EFSI support also covers small-scale projects, the EIB and the EIF shall, where necessary and to the extent possible, extend cooperation with national promotional banks or institutions and support the possibilities provided, including through facilitating the creation of investment platforms.’;

(5)

Article 7 is amended as follows:

(a)	the following paragraph is inserted: ‘1a. All institutions and bodies involved in EFSI governing structures shall endeavour to ensure gender balance in relevant EFSI governing bodies.’;

(b)

in paragraph 3, the first and second subparagraphs are replaced by the following:

‘3. The Steering Board shall comprise five members: three appointed by the Commission, one by the EIB and one expert appointed as a non-voting member by the European Parliament. That expert shall not seek or take instructions from Union institutions, bodies, offices or agencies, from any Member State government or from any other public or private body, and shall act in full independence. The expert shall perform his or her duties impartially and in the interest of the EFSI.

The Steering Board shall elect a Chairperson from among its voting members for a fixed term of three years, renewable once. The Steering Board shall discuss and take the utmost possible account of the positions of all members. If the members cannot converge in their position, the Steering Board shall take its decisions by unanimous vote among its voting members. The minutes of Steering Board meetings shall provide a substantive account of the positions of all members.

The detailed minutes of Steering Board meetings shall be published as soon as they have been approved by the Steering Board. The European Parliament shall be immediately notified of their publication.’;

(c)

in paragraph 5, the second subparagraph is replaced by the following:

‘The Managing Director shall be assisted by a deputy managing director. The Managing Director and the Deputy Managing Director shall participate in the meetings of the Steering Board as observers. The Managing Director shall report every quarter on the activities of the EFSI to the Steering Board.’;

(d)

in paragraph 8, the third subparagraph is amended as follows:

(i)

point (e) is replaced by the following:

‘(e)	climate action, environmental protection and management;’;

(ii)

the following point is added:

‘(l)	sustainable agriculture, forestry, fishery, aquaculture and other elements of the wider bioeconomy.’;

(e)

in paragraph 10, the second sentence is replaced by the following:

‘Each member of the Investment Committee shall communicate without delay to the Steering Board, the Managing Director and the Deputy Managing Director all information needed to check, on an ongoing basis, the absence of any conflict of interest.’;

(f)

in paragraph 11, the following sentence is added:

‘The Managing Director shall be responsible for informing the Steering Board of any such breach that comes to his or her knowledge and be responsible for proposing and following up on appropriate action. The Managing Director shall exercise his or her duty of care regarding potential conflicts of interest of any member of the Investment Committee.’;

(g)

paragraph 12 is amended as follows:

(i)

in the second subparagraph, the second sentence is replaced by the following:

‘Decisions approving the use of the EU guarantee shall be public and accessible, and shall include the rationale for the decision, with particular focus on compliance with the additionality criterion. They shall also refer to the global assessment stemming from the scoreboard of indicators referred to in paragraph 14. The publication shall not contain commercially sensitive information. In reaching its decision, the Investment Committee shall be supported by the documentation provided by the EIB.

The scoreboard, which is a tool for the Investment Committee to prioritise the use of the EU guarantee for operations that display higher scores and added value, shall be publicly available after the signature of a project. The publication shall not contain commercially sensitive information.

Commercially sensitive parts of the decisions of the Investment Committee shall be forwarded by the EIB to the European Parliament upon request subject to strict confidentiality requirements.’;

(ii)

the third subparagraph is replaced by the following:

‘Twice a year, the EIB shall submit to the European Parliament, to the Council and to the Commission a list of all decisions of the Investment Committee as well as the scoreboards relating to all those decisions. That submission shall be subject to strict confidentiality requirements.’;

(h)

paragraph 14 is replaced by the following:

‘14. The Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 23(1) to (3) and (5) to supplement this Regulation by establishing a scoreboard of indicators to be used by the Investment Committee to ensure an independent and transparent assessment of the potential and actual use of the EU guarantee. Such delegated acts shall be prepared in close dialogue with the EIB.

The Steering Board shall, as part of the strategic orientation of the EFSI, establish a minimum score for each pillar in the scoreboard with a view to enhancing the assessment of projects.

The Steering Board may, upon request from the EIB, allow the Investment Committee to examine a project whose score in any of the pillars is below the minimum score when the global assessment contained in the scoreboard concludes that the operation related to that project would either address a significant market failure or present a high level of additionality.’;

(6)

Article 9 is amended as follows:

(a)

paragraph 2 is amended as follows:

(i)

the introductory part is replaced by the following:

‘2. The EU guarantee shall be granted for EIB financing and investment operations approved by the Investment Committee or for funding or guarantees to the EIF in order to conduct EIB financing and investment operations in accordance with Article 11(3).

The EIB shall, where appropriate, delegate the appraisal, selection and monitoring of small-scale sub-projects to financial intermediaries or approved eligible vehicles, in particular investment platforms and national promotional banks or institutions as a means to increase and facilitate the access to finance for small-scale projects. Notwithstanding the third subparagraph of paragraph 5 of this Article, the Investment Committee shall not retain the right to approve the use of the EU guarantee for sub-projects delegated to financial intermediaries or approved eligible vehicles where the EFSI contribution to such sub-projects is below EUR 3 000 000. Where necessary, the Steering Board shall provide guidance on the procedure by which the Investment Committee is to decide on the use of the EU guarantee for sub-projects for which the EFSI contribution is equal to or above EUR 3 000 000.

The operations concerned shall be consistent with Union policies and support any of the following general objectives:’;

(ii)

in point (c), the following point is added:

‘(iv)

railway infrastructure, other rail projects, and maritime ports;’;

(iii)

in point (e), the following points are inserted:

‘(ia)

blockchain technology;

(ib)	internet of things;

(ic)	cybersecurity and network protection infrastructures;’;

(iv)

point (g) is amended as follows:

—

point (ii) is replaced by the following:

‘(ii)

cultural and creative industries, for which sector-specific financial mechanisms are to be authorised in interaction with the Creative Europe Programme established by Regulation (EU) No 1295/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council (*1) and the Cultural and Creative Sectors Guarantee Facility established pursuant to that Regulation, in order to provide fit-for-purpose loans for those industries;

—

point (v) is replaced by the following:

‘(v)	social infrastructures, social services, social and solidarity economy;’;

(v)

the following points are added:

‘(h)	sustainable agriculture, forestry, fishery, aquaculture and other elements of the wider bioeconomy;

(i)	within the requirements of this Regulation for less developed regions and transition regions as listed respectively in Annexes I and II to Commission Implementing Decision 2014/99/EU (*2), other industry and services eligible for EIB support.

(*2) Commission Implementing Decision 2014/99/EU of 18 February 2014 setting out the list of regions eligible for funding from the European Regional Development Fund and the European Social Fund and of Member States eligible for funding from the Cohesion Fund for the period 2014-2020 (OJ L 50, 20.2.2014, p. 22).’;"

(vi)

the following subparagraph is added:

‘While recognising the demand-driven nature of the EFSI, the EIB shall target that at least 40 % of EFSI financing under the infrastructure and innovation window support project components that contribute to climate action, in line with the commitments made at the 21st Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP21). EFSI financing for SMEs and small mid-cap companies shall not be included in that computation. The EIB shall use its internationally agreed methodology to identify those climate action project components or cost shares. The Steering Board shall, where necessary, provide detailed guidance to that end.’;

(b)

paragraph 3 is replaced by the following:

‘3. The investment period during which the EU guarantee may be granted for supporting financing and investment operations covered by this Regulation shall last until:

(a)	31 December 2020, for EIB operations for which a contract between the EIB and the beneficiary or financial intermediary has been signed by 31 December 2022;

(b)	31 December 2020, for EIF operations for which a contract between the EIF and the financial intermediary has been signed by 31 December 2022.’;

(c)	paragraph 4 is replaced by the following: ‘4. The EIB shall, where necessary and to the extent possible, cooperate with national promotional banks or institutions and investment platforms.’;

(d)	in paragraph 5, the third subparagraph is replaced by the following: ‘The Investment Committee may decide to retain the right to approve new projects put forward by financial intermediaries or within approved eligible vehicles.’;

(7)

In Article 10(2), point (a) is replaced by the following:

‘(a)	EIB loans, guarantees, counter-guarantees, capital market instruments, any other form of funding or credit enhancement instrument, including subordinated debt, equity or quasi-equity participations, including in favour of national promotional banks or institutions, investment platforms or funds;’;

(8)

Article 11 is amended as follows:

(a)

paragraph 1 is replaced by the following:

‘1. The EU guarantee shall not, at any time, exceed EUR 26 000 000 000, of which a part may be allocated for EIB funding or guarantees to the EIF in accordance with paragraph 3. Aggregate net payments from the general budget of the Union under the EU guarantee shall not exceed EUR 26 000 000 000 and not exceed EUR 16 000 000 000 before 6 July 2018.’;

(b)

paragraph 3 is replaced by the following:

‘3. Where the EIB provides funding or guarantees to the EIF in order to conduct EIB financing and investment operations, the EU guarantee shall provide for a full guarantee on such funding or guarantees up to an initial limit of EUR 6 500 000 000, provided that an amount of at least EUR 4 000 000 000 of funding or guarantees is gradually provided by the EIB without coverage by the EU guarantee. Without prejudice to paragraph 1, the limit of EUR 6 500 000 000 may, where appropriate, be adjusted by the Steering Board up to a maximum of EUR 9 000 000 000, without an obligation on the EIB to match the amounts above EUR 4 000 000 000.’;

(c)

in paragraph 6, points (a) and (b) are replaced by the following:

‘(a)

for debt instruments referred to in Article 10(2)(a):

(i)	the principal and all interest and amounts due to the EIB but not received by it in accordance with the terms of the financing operations until the event of default; for subordinated debt a deferral, reduction or required exit shall be considered to be an event of default;

(ii)	losses arising from fluctuations of currencies other than the euro in markets where possibilities for long-term hedging are limited;

(b)	for equity or quasi-equity investments referred to in Article 10(2)(a), the amounts invested and their associated funding cost and losses arising from fluctuations of currencies other than the euro;’;

(9)

Article 12 is amended as follows:

(a)	paragraph 5 is replaced by the following: ‘5. Endowments to the guarantee fund referred to in paragraph 2 shall be used to reach an appropriate level (target amount) to reflect the total EU guarantee obligations. The target amount shall be set at 35 % of the total EU guarantee obligations.’;

(b)

paragraphs 7 to 10 are replaced by the following:

‘7. From 1 July 2018, if as a result of calls on the EU guarantee, the level of the guarantee fund falls below 50 % of the target amount, or it could fall below that level within a year according to a risk assessment by the Commission, the Commission shall submit a report on any exceptional measures that could be required.

8. After a call on the EU guarantee, endowments to the guarantee fund provided for in points (b) and (d) of paragraph 2 of this Article above the target amount shall be used within the limits of the investment period provided for in Article 9 to restore the EU guarantee to its full amount.

9. Endowments to the guarantee fund provided for in point (c) of paragraph 2 shall be used to restore the EU guarantee to its full amount.

10. In the event that the EU guarantee is fully restored to an amount of EUR 26 000 000 000, any amount in the guarantee fund in excess of the target amount shall be paid to the general budget of the Union as internal assigned revenue in accordance with Article 21(4) of Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012 for any budget lines which could have been used as a source of redeployment to the guarantee fund.’;

(10)

Article 14 is amended as follows:

(a)

paragraph 1 is amended as follows:

(i)

in the first subparagraph, the second sentence is replaced by the following:

‘Such support shall include the provision of targeted support on the use of technical assistance for project structuring, on the use of innovative financial instruments, on the use of public-private partnerships and on the provision of information, as appropriate, on relevant issues relating to Union law, taking into account the specificities and needs of Member States with less developed financial markets, as well as the situation in different sectors.’;

(ii)

in the second subparagraph, the following sentence is added:

‘It shall also support the preparation of climate action and circular economy projects or components thereof, in particular in the context of COP21, the preparation of projects in the digital sector, as well as the preparation of projects referred to in the second indent of the third subparagraph of Article 5(1).’;

(b)

paragraph 2 is amended as follows:

(i)

point (c) is replaced by the following:

‘(c)

leveraging local knowledge to facilitate EFSI support across the Union and contributing actively where possible to the objective of sectorial and geographical diversification of the EFSI referred to in Section 8 of Annex II by supporting the EIB and national promotional banks or institutions to originate and develop operations, in particular in less developed regions and transition regions, and, where necessary, by helping to structure demand for EFSI support;’;

(ii)

point (e) is replaced by the following:

‘(e)	providing proactive, advisory support, where necessary by means of local presence, on the establishment of investment platforms, in particular cross-border and macroregional investment platforms involving several Member States and/or regions;’;

(iii)

the following points are added:

‘(f)	using the potential of attracting and financing small-scale projects, including through investment platforms;

(g)

providing advice on the combination of other sources of Union funding, such as the European Structural and Investment Funds, Horizon 2020 and the Connecting Europe Facility established by Regulation (EU) No 1316/2013, with the EFSI with a view to resolving practical problems linked to the use of such combined sources of funding;

(h)	providing proactive support to promote and encourage the operations referred to in point (b) of the first paragraph of Article 8.’;

(c)

paragraph 5 is replaced by the following:

‘5. In order to achieve the objective referred to in paragraph 1 and to facilitate the provision of advisory support at local level, the EIAH shall seek to use the expertise of the EIB, the Commission, national promotional banks or institutions, and the managing authorities of the European Structural and Investment Funds.’;

(d)

the following paragraph is inserted:

‘5a. The EIB shall propose to project promoters applying for EIB financing, including in particular small-scale projects, to refer their projects to the EIAH in order to enhance, where appropriate, the preparation of their projects and/or to allow for the assessment of the possibility of bundling projects through investment platforms. It shall also inform promoters of projects for which EIB financing has been denied, or which are experiencing a financing gap in spite of possible EIB financing, of the possibility of listing their projects on the European Investment Project Portal.’;

(e)

in paragraph 6, the second sentence is replaced by the following:

‘Cooperation between, on the one hand, the EIAH and, on the other hand, a national promotional bank or institution, an international financial institution or an institution or a managing authority, including those acting as a national advisor, having expertise relevant for the purposes of the EIAH, may take the form of a contractual partnership. The EIAH shall endeavour to conclude at least one cooperation agreement with a national promotional bank or institution per Member State. In Member States where national promotional banks or institutions do not exist, the EIAH shall provide, where appropriate, and at the request of the Member State concerned, proactive advisory support on the establishment of such bank or institution.’;

(f)

the following paragraph is inserted:

‘6a. In order to develop a wide geographic outreach of the advisory services across the Union and to successfully leverage local knowledge about the EFSI, a local presence of the EIAH shall be ensured where necessary, taking into account existing support schemes, with a view to providing tangible, proactive, tailor-made assistance on the ground. It shall be established in particular in Member States or regions that face difficulties in developing projects under the EFSI. The EIAH shall assist in the transfer of knowledge to the regional and local level with a view to building up regional and local capacity and expertise.’;

(g)

paragraph 7 is replaced by following:

‘7. An annual reference amount of EUR 20 000 000 shall be made available from the general budget of the Union to contribute towards covering the costs of EIAH operations until 31 December 2020 for the services referred to in paragraph 2, insofar as those costs are not covered by the remaining amount from fees referred to in paragraph 4.’;

(11)

Article 16(1) is replaced by the following:

‘1. The EIB, in cooperation with the EIF where appropriate, shall submit every six months a report to the Commission on EIB financing and investment operations covered by this Regulation. The report shall include an assessment of compliance with the requirements on the use of the EU guarantee and with the key performance indicators referred to in Article 4(2)(f)(iv). The report shall also include statistical, financial and accounting data on each EIB financing and investment operation and on an aggregated basis. Once a year, the report shall also include information on barriers to investment encountered by the EIB when carrying out investment operations covered by this Regulation.’;

(12)

Article 17 is amended as follows:

(a)

paragraph 1 is replaced by the following:

‘1. At the request of the European Parliament or of the Council, the Chairperson of the Steering Board and the Managing Director shall report on the performance of the EFSI to the requesting institution, including, where the European Parliament makes such a request, by participating in a hearing before the European Parliament. In addition, at the request of the European Parliament or of the Council, the Managing Director shall report on the work of the Investment Committee to the requesting institution.’;

(b)

paragraph 2 is replaced by the following:

‘2. The Chairperson of the Steering Board and the Managing Director shall reply orally or in writing to questions addressed to the EFSI by the European Parliament or by the Council, in any event within five weeks of the date of receipt of a question. In addition, the Managing Director shall reply orally or in writing to the European Parliament or to the Council to questions regarding the work of the Investment Committee.’;

(13)

Article 18 is amended as follows:

(a)

paragraph 6 is replaced by the following:

‘6. Both before the tabling of any new proposal in the framework of the multiannual financial framework starting in 2021 and at the end of the investment period, the Commission shall submit to the European Parliament and to the Council a report containing an independent evaluation of the application of this Regulation, which shall include:

(a)	an assessment of the functioning of the EFSI, the use of the EU guarantee and the functioning of the EIAH;

(b)	an assessment of whether the EFSI consists of a good use of resources of the general budget of the Union, mobilises a sufficient level of private capital, and crowds-in private investment;

(c)	an assessment of whether maintaining a scheme for supporting investment is useful from a macroeconomic point of view;

(d)	at the end of the investment period, an assessment of the application of the procedure referred to in Article 4(2)(a)(v).’;

(b)

paragraph 7 is replaced by the following:

‘7. Taking due account of the first report containing an independent evaluation as referred to in paragraph 6, the Commission shall, if appropriate, put forward a legislative proposal together with an appropriate financing under the multiannual financial framework starting in 2021.’;

(c)

paragraph 8 is replaced by the following:

‘8. The reports referred to in paragraph 6 of this Article shall include an evaluation concerning the use of the scoreboard referred to in Article 7(14) and Annex II, in particular with regard to the consideration of the appropriateness of each pillar and their respective roles in the assessment. The report shall, if appropriate and duly justified by its findings, be accompanied by a proposal for a revision of the delegated act referred to in Article 7(14).’;

(14)

In Article 19, the following paragraph is added:

‘The EIB and the EIF shall inform, or shall oblige financial intermediaries to inform, the final beneficiaries, including SMEs, of the existence of EFSI support by making that information visible, particularly in the case of SMEs, in the relevant agreement providing EFSI support, thereby increasing public awareness and improving visibility.’;

(15)	Article 20(2) is replaced by the following: ‘2. For the purpose of paragraph 1 of this Article, the Court of Auditors shall, at its request and in accordance with Article 287(3) TFEU, be granted full access to any document or information necessary to carry out its task.’;

(16)

Article 22(1) is replaced by the following:

‘1. In their financing and investment operations covered by this Regulation, the EIB and the EIF shall comply with applicable Union legislation and agreed international and Union standards and, therefore, shall not support projects under this Regulation that contribute to money laundering, terrorism financing, tax avoidance, tax fraud or tax evasion.

In addition, the EIB and the EIF shall not enter into new or renewed operations with entities incorporated or established in jurisdictions listed under the relevant Union policy on non-cooperative jurisdictions, or that are identified as high-risk third countries pursuant to Article 9(2) of Directive (EU) 2015/849 of the European Parliament and of the Council (*3), or that do not effectively comply with Union or internationally agreed tax standards on transparency and exchange of information.

When concluding agreements with financial intermediaries, the EIB and the EIF shall transpose the requirements referred to in this Article into the relevant agreements and shall request the financial intermediaries to report on their observance.

The EIB and the EIF shall review their policy on non-cooperative jurisdictions at the latest following the adoption of the Union list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes.

Every year thereafter, the EIB and the EIF shall submit a report to the European Parliament and to the Council on the implementation of their policy on non-cooperative jurisdictions in relation to EFSI financing and investment operations including country-by-country information and a list of intermediaries with which they cooperate.

(*3) Directive (EU) 2015/849 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 May 2015 on the prevention of the use of the financial system for the purposes of money laundering or terrorist financing, amending Regulation (EU) No 648/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council, and repealing Directive 2005/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council and Commission Directive 2006/70/EC (OJ L 141, 5.6.2015, p. 73).’;"

(17)

In Article 23(2), the first and second sentences of the first subparagraph are replaced by the following:

‘The power to adopt delegated acts referred to in Article 7(13) and (14) shall be conferred on the Commission for a period of five years from 4 July 2015. The Commission shall draw up a report in respect of the delegation of power not later than nine months before the end of that five-year period.’;

(18)	Annex II is amended as set out in the Annex to this Regulation.

Article 2

Regulation (EU) No 1316/2013 is amended as follows:

(1)

Article 5(1) is replaced by the following:

‘1. The financial envelope for the implementation of the CEF for the period 2014 to 2020 is set at EUR 30 192 259 000 in current prices. That amount shall be distributed as follows:

(a)	transport sector: EUR 24 050 582 000, of which EUR 11 305 500 000 shall be transferred from the Cohesion Fund to be spent in line with this Regulation exclusively in Member States eligible for funding from the Cohesion Fund;

(b)	telecommunications sector: EUR 1 066 602 000;

(c)	energy sector: EUR 5 075 075 000.

Those amounts are without prejudice to the application of the flexibility mechanism provided for under Council Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 1311/2013 (*4).

(*4) Council Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 1311/2013 of 2 December 2013 laying down the multiannual financial framework for the years 2014-20 (OJ L 347, 20.12.2013, p. 884).’;"

(2)

In Article 14, the following paragraphs are added:

‘5. By way of derogation from the second and third subparagraphs of Article 140(6) of Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012, revenues and repayments from the financial instruments established under this Regulation and from the financial instruments established under Regulation (EC) No 680/2007 which have been merged with financial instruments established under this Regulation in accordance with paragraph 3 of this Article shall, up to a maximum of EUR 125 000 000, constitute internal assigned revenue within the meaning of Article 21(4) of Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012 for the European Fund for Strategic Investments established by Regulation (EU) 2015/1017 of the European Parliament and of the Council (*5).

6. By way of derogation from the second and third subparagraphs of Article 140(6) of Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012, revenues and repayments from the 2020 European Fund for Energy, Climate Change & Infrastructure (‘Marguerite Fund’), established in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 680/2007, shall, up to a maximum of EUR 25 000 000, constitute internal assigned revenue within the meaning of Article 21(4) of Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012 for the European Fund for Strategic Investments established by Regulation (EU) 2015/1017.

(*5) Regulation (EU) 2015/1017 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 June 2015 on the European Fund for Strategic Investments, the European Investment Advisory Hub and the European Investment Project Portal and amending Regulations (EU) No 1291/2013 and (EU) No 1316/2013 — the European Fund for Strategic Investments (OJ L 169, 1.7.2015, p. 1).’."

Article 3

This Regulation shall enter into force on the third day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.

Please note

Contents

Article 1

Article 2

Article 3