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

As regards any further delegated act adopted pursuant to Article 7(14), paragraph 4 of this Article shall apply mutatis mutandis.

CHAPTER VIII TRANSITIONAL AND FINAL PROVISIONS

Article 24

Transitional provision

Article 25

Entry into force

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.

ANNEX I

AMENDMENTS TO REGULATION (EU) NO 1291/2013 AND REGULATION (EU) NO 1316/2013

• (1)Regulation (EU) No 1291/2013 is hereby amended as follows:

• (a) In Article 6, paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 are replaced by the following: ‘1. The financial envelope for the implementation of Horizon 2020 is set at EUR 74 828,3  million in current prices, of which a maximum of EUR 72 445,3  million shall be allocated to activities under Title XIX TFEU. The annual appropriations shall be authorised by the European Parliament and by the Council within the limits of the multiannual financial framework.

(a) Excellent science, EUR 24 232,1  million in current prices; (b) Industrial leadership, EUR 16 466,5  million in current prices; (c) Societal challenges, EUR 28 629,6  million in current prices. The maximum overall amount for the Union financial contribution from Horizon 2020 to the specific objectives set out in Article 5(3) and to the non-nuclear direct actions of the JRC shall be as follows: - (i) Spreading excellence and widening participation, EUR 816,5 million in current prices; - (ii) Science with and for society, EUR 444,9 million in current prices; - (iii) Non-nuclear direct actions of the JRC, EUR 1 855,7  million in current prices. The indicative breakdown for the priorities and specific objectives set out in Article 5(2) and (3) is set out in Annex II.

• (b) Annex II is replaced by the following text: ‘ANNEX II Breakdown of the budget The indicative breakdown for Horizon 2020 is as follows, subject to the annual budgetary procedure: EUR million in current prices I Excellent science, of which: 24 232,1

13 094,8

2 585,4

6 162,3

2 389,6 II  Industrial leadership, of which: 16 466,5

13 035

2 842,3

589,2 III  Societal challenges, of which [^E0017] 28 629,6

7 256,7

3 707,7

5 688,1

6 149,4

2 956,5

1 258,5

1 612,7 IV  Spreading excellence and widening participation 816,5 V Science with and for society 444,9 VI  Non-nuclear direct actions of the Joint Research Centre (JRC) 1 855,7 VII  The European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) 2 383 TOTAL 74 828,3 (¹) Including EUR 7 423  million for Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) of which EUR 1 549  million for photonics and micro-and nanoelectronics, EUR 3 741  million for nanotechnologies, advanced materials and advanced manufacturing and processing, EUR 501 million for biotechnology and EUR 1 403  million for space. As a result, EUR 5 792  million will be available to support Key Enabling Technologies. (2) Around EUR 994 million of this amount may go towards the implementation of Strategic Energy Technology Plan (SET Plan) projects. Around one third of this may go to SMEs. (³) Within the target of allocating a minimum of 20 % of the total combined budgets for the specific objective “Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies” and the priority “Societal challenges” for SMEs, a minimum of 5 % of those combined budgets will be initially allocated to the dedicated SME instrument. A minimum of 7 % of the total budgets of the specific objective “Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies” and the priority “Societal challenges” will be allocated to the dedicated SME instrument averaged over the duration of Horizon 2020. (4) The Fast Track to Innovation (FTI) pilot actions will be funded from the specific objective “Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies” and from the relevant specific objectives of the priority “Societal challenges”. A sufficient number of projects will be launched in order to allow a full evaluation of the FTI pilot.’.

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

• (a) In Article 5, paragraph 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 30 442 259 000 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 1 041 602 000 ; (c) energy sector: EUR 5 350 075 000 . These amounts are without prejudice to the application of the flexibility mechanism provided for under Council Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 1311/2013 ([^E0018]).

• (b) In Article 14, paragraph 2 is replaced by the following: ‘2. The overall contribution from the Union budget to the financial instruments shall not exceed 8,4 % of the overall financial envelope of the CEF as referred to in Article 5(1).’;

• (c) In Article 21, paragraph 4 is replaced by the following: ‘4. The Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 26 to raise the ceiling set out in Article 14(2) up to 10 %, provided the following conditions are met: (i) the evaluation of the pilot phase of the Project Bond Initiative carried out in 2015 is positive; and (ii) the take-up of financial instruments exceeds 6,5 % in terms of project contractual commitments.’.

ANNEX II

EFSI INVESTMENT GUIDELINES

1. Scope

The purpose of the investment guidelines shall be to serve together with this Regulation as a basis for the Investment Committee to decide in a transparent and independent manner on the use of the EU guarantee for EIB operations that are eligible under the EFSI in conformity with the objectives and any other relevant requirements laid down in this Regulation.

The investment guidelines are based on the principles established by this Regulation with regard to general objectives, eligibility criteria, eligible instruments and the definition of additionality. They complement this Regulation by (i) giving further guidance on eligibility, (ii) providing a risk framework for operations, (iii) defining sector and geographic diversification thresholds, and (iv) defining criteria to assess the contribution to the EFSI objectives to facilitate prioritisation.

The investment guidelines only apply to EFSI operations relating to the debt and equity instruments referred to in Article 10(2)(a) of this Regulation and are thus not applicable to EFSI operations relating to the instruments referred to in Article 10(2)(b).

2. Eligible Counterparts, Project Types and Instruments

• (a)The eligible counterparts to benefit from the EU guarantee shall include:

• — entities of all sizes, including utilities, SPVs or project companies, SMEs or mid-cap companies;

• — national promotional banks or institutions or financial institutions for intermediation;

• — equity/debt funds and any other form of collective investment vehicles;

• — investment platforms;

• — public sector entities (territorial or not, but excluding operations with such entities giving rise to direct Member State risk) and public-sector type entities.

• (b)The EU guarantee shall be granted to support, directly or indirectly, the financing of new operations. In the infrastructure field, greenfield investments (asset creation) should be encouraged. Brownfield investments (extension and modernisation of existing assets) may also be supported. As a rule, the EU guarantee shall not be granted for supporting refinancing operations (such as replacing existing loan agreements or other forms of financial support for projects which have already partially or fully materialised), except in exceptional and well-justified circumstances where it is demonstrated that such a transaction will enable a new investment of an amount at least equivalent to the amount of the transaction and that would fulfil the eligibility criteria and general objectives laid down in Article 6 and Article 9(2) respectively.

• EFSI support to motorways shall be limited to private and/or public investment as concerns:

• — transport in cohesion countries, in less developed regions or in cross-border transport projects,

• — upgrading, maintaining or improving road safety, development of intelligent transport systems’ (ITS) devices or guaranteeing the integrity and standards of existing motorways on the trans-European transport network, in particular safe parking areas, alternative clean fuels stations and electric charging systems,

• — contributing to the completion of the trans-European transport network by 2030.

• EFSI support shall also be explicitly possible for maintaining and upgrading existing transport infrastructure.

• (c)The EU guarantee shall support a wide range of products to allow the EFSI to adapt to market needs while encouraging private investment in projects, without crowding out private market finance.  In this context, it is expected that the EIB will provide financing under the EFSI with a view to reach an overall target of at least EUR 500 000 000 000 of public or private investment, including financing mobilised through the EIF under EFSI operations relating to the instruments referred to in Article 10(2)(b), national promotional banks or institutions and through increased access to financing for entities having up to 3 000 employees. The eligible products shall include inter alia ([^E0019]) loans, guarantees /counter-guarantees, mezzanine and subordinated finance, capital market instruments including credit enhancement, and equity or quasi-equity participations, including through national promotional banks or institutions, investment platforms or funds. In this context, in order to allow a broad range of investors to invest in EFSI projects, the EIB shall be allowed to structure appropriate portfolios.

• (d)National promotional banks or institutions and investment platforms or funds shall be eligible for coverage by the EIB guarantee under the counter-guarantee of the EU guarantee in accordance with Article 10(2)(c). The decision to grant that EIB guarantee shall strive to mobilise investments at both the national and regional level and to exploit the complementary expertise, the specific comparative advantages, and the scope of such entities, for the benefit of the EFSI initiative.

3. Additionality

The EU guarantee shall be granted in support of operations that meet the criterion of providing additionality as defined in Article 5(1) of this Regulation.

The following general principles shall also apply:

• (a) in order to avoid duplication of existing financial instruments, the EU guarantee may complement, be combined with, or strengthen or enhance existing Union programmes or other sources of Union funds or joint instruments;

• (b) over the course of the EFSI investment period, investment supported by the EFSI shall in principle not crowd out the use of other Union financial instruments;

• (c) attention shall be paid to the complementarity of new infrastructure and innovation window products focusing on SMEs and small mid-cap companies with existing EU financial instruments and EFSI financial instruments under the SME window so that the highest level of efficient use of financial resources is achieved. Nonetheless, a cumulative use of instruments shall be possible in particular in cases where the usual support is not sufficient to kick-start investments;

• (d) the presence of one or more of the following features would typically lead to the classification of operations as EIB special activities:
• — subordination in relation to other lenders, including national promotional banks or institutions and private lenders,
• — participation in risk-sharing instruments where the position taken exposes the EIB to high-risk levels,
• — exposure to specific risks, such as country-, sector- or region-specific risks, particularly those experienced in less developed regions and transition regions, and/or risks associated with innovation, in particular in growth-, sustainability- and productivity-enhancing unproven technologies,
• — equity type characteristics, such as performance-linked payments, or
• — other identifiable aspects leading to higher risk exposure as per the credit risk guidelines of the EIB such as counterparty risk, limited security and recourse only to project assets for repayment.

4. Added value: contribution to the EFSI objectives

Projects benefitting from the EU guarantee shall respect the eligibility criteria and general objectives set out in Article 6 and Article 9(2) respectively.

5. Scoreboard

The scoreboard referred to in Article 7 shall be used by the Investment Committee with a view to ensuring an independent and transparent assessment of the possible use of the EU guarantee.  The scoreboard shall be made public as soon as an operation under the EU guarantee is signed, with the exclusion of commercially sensitive information.

6. Investment Windows

• (a)The debt and equity instruments referred to in Article 10(2)(a) shall be provided under an Infrastructure and Innovation Window, which will consist of a Debt Sub-window and an Equity-Type Sub-window. Allocation of operations ([^E0020]) to one of the two Sub-windows shall be based on the EIB's system of loan grading and the EIB's standard risk assessment and subject to guidance provided by the Steering Board.

• (b)Infrastructure and Innovation Window - Debt Sub-window

• — For debt-type operations, the EIB or the EIF shall carry out its standard risk assessment, involving the computation of the probability of default and the recovery rate. Based on these parameters, the EIB or the EIF shall quantify the risk for each operation. Such computation shall be performed without taking into account the EU guarantee, to reflect the overall risk of the transaction.

• — Each debt-type operation shall receive a risk classification (the ‘Transaction Loan Grading’) as per the EIB’s or the EIF’s system of loan gradings. Information on loan grading shall be included in the project documentation for the Investment Committee. Transactions with a higher risk profile than projects supported by EIB normal operations are referred to as special activities as defined in Article 16 of the EIB Statute and in the credit risk policy guidelines of the EIB. Operations supported by the EU guarantee shall typically have a higher risk profile than EIB normal operations and hence fall under the special activities. Transactions with a better loan grading can be included into the EFSI portfolio provided that a high added value is clearly demonstrated and their inclusion is consistent with the criterion of providing additionality.

• — Projects shall be economically and technically viable and the EIB’s financing shall be structured in line with sound banking principles and comply with the high-level risk management principles set by the EIB or the EIF in its internal guidelines. All relevant information shall be made available to the members of the Steering Board and of the Investment Committee.

• — Debt-type products shall be priced in line with Article 4(2)(a)(iv).

• (c)Infrastructure and Innovation Window - Equity Type Sub-window

• — For equity-type operations, the EU guarantee may be used to support direct investments in individual companies or projects (Equity-Type Direct Investments) or financing for funds or analogous portfolio risks (Equity-Type Portfolio), provided that the EIB invests on a pari passu basis for its own risk as well.  The determination whether an operation bears equity-type risks or not, irrespective of its legal form and nomenclature, shall be based on the EIB’s or the EIF’s standard assessment.

• — The EIB’s equity-type operations shall be carried out in accordance with the EIB’s or the EIF’s internal rules and procedures. All relevant information for the assessment of the operation shall be made available to the members of the Steering Board and of the Investment Committee.

• — Equity-type investments shall be priced in line with Article 4(2)(a)(iv).

7. Exposure limits per risk category

• (a)The exposure limits for special activities categories decreases with increasing risk-level, as expressed in the Transaction Loan Grading. The limit is thus generally higher for debt-type risk than for equity-type risk.

• (b)Reflecting the availability of credit enhancement provided by the EU guarantee, the exposure limits for the EFSI shall be set by the EIB at a level higher than the equivalent limit under the EIB's own risk business. The members of the Steering Board and the Investment Committee shall receive a detailed overview of the EFSI risk limits. The Steering Board shall supervise regularly the development of the risk profile of the EFSI portfolio and adopt appropriate measures if deemed necessary.

• (c)Transactions for higher amounts than the specific EFSI limits can be included into the EFSI portfolio on an exceptional basis, with the agreement of the Steering Board, provided that additionality and added value is clearly demonstrated and their inclusion is unlikely to jeopardise the overall portfolio risk-level target at the end of the  ————— investment period.

8. Sectoral and geographical diversification

The EFSI is demand driven but aims to support eligible projects across the Union as well as cross-border projects, covered by Article 8 of this Regulation, without any sectoral or geographical pre-allocation. However, best efforts shall be made to ensure that at the end of the  ————— investment period a wide range of sectors and regions will be covered and excessive sectoral or geographical concentration is avoided.

(a) Sectoral Concentration

In order to manage sector diversification and concentration of the EFSI portfolio, the Steering Board shall set indicative concentration limits in respect of the volume of operations supported by the EU guarantee at the end of the  ————— investment period. The indicative concentration limits shall be made public.

The Steering Board may decide to modify these indicative limits, after consulting the Investment Committee. In that case, the Steering Board shall explain its decision to the European Parliament and to the Council in writing.

(b) Geographical Concentration

EFSI-supported operations shall not be concentrated in any specific territory at the end of the  ————— investment period. To this end the Steering Board shall adopt indicative geographical diversification and concentration guidelines. The Steering Board may decide to modify these indicative limits, after consulting the Investment Committee. The Steering Board shall explain its decisions relating to the indicative limits to the European Parliament and the Council in writing. The EFSI should aim to cover all Member States.

1. Joint statement by the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission on the breakdown for Horizon 2020

"The European Parliament, the Council and the Commission agree that the following budget lines will not contribute to the funding of the EFSI: "Strengthening frontier research in the European Research Council", "Marie Sklodowska-Curie actions" and "Spreading Excellence and Widening Participation". The remaining amount stemming from the additional use of the margin as compared to the Commission's proposal will be re-instated to the other Horizon 2020 budget lines in proportion to the reductions proposed by the Commission. The indicative breakdown is set out in Annex I to the EFSI Regulation."

2. Statement by the Commission on the draft budget 2016

"The Commission will analyse the potential impact of the contributions to the EFSI from the different budget lines of Horizon 2020 on the effective implementation of the respective programmes and will, if appropriate, propose an amending letter to the draft general budget of the Union for 2016 to adjust the breakdown of the Horizon 2020 budget lines."

3. Statement by the Commission on its assessment of one-off contributions within the context of the EFSI initiative for the purpose of implementing the Stability and Growth Pact

"Without prejudice to the prerogatives of the Council in the implementation of the Stability and Growth Pact (SGP), one-off contributions by Member States, either by a Member State or by national promotional banks classified in the general government sector or acting on behalf of a Member State, into the EFSI or thematic or multi-country investment platforms established for the implementation of the Investment Plan, should in principle qualify as one-off measures, within the meaning of Article 5 of Council Regulation (EC) No 1466/97 and Article 3 of Council Regulation (EC) No 1467/97."

[^E0001]: Commission Recommendation 2003/361/EC of 6 May 2003 concerning the definition of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (OJ L 124, 20.5.2003, p. 36).

[^E0002]: Regulation (EU) No 1295/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 December 2013 establishing the Creative Europe Programme (2014 to 2020) and repealing Decisions No 1718/2006/EC, No 1855/2006/EC and No 1041/2009/EC (OJ L 347, 20.12.2013, p. 221).

[^E0003]: 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).

[^E0004]: 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 (OJ L 107, 26.3.2021, p. 30).

[^E0005]: Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2012 on the financial rules applicable to the general budget of the Union and repealing Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002 (OJ L 298, 26.10.2012, p. 1).

[^E0006]: Council Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 1311/2013 of 2 December 2013 laying down the multiannual financial framework for the years 2014-2020 (OJ L 347, 20.12.2013, p. 884).

[^E0007]: Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2024/2509 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 September 2024 on the financial rules applicable to the general budget of the Union (OJ L, 2024/2509, 26.9.2024, p. 1, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/2509/oj).

[^E0008]: Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 883/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 September 2013 concerning investigations conducted by the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) and repealing Regulation (EC) No 1073/1999 of the European Parliament and of the Council and Council Regulation (Euratom) No 1074/1999 (OJ L 248, 18.9.2013, p. 1).

[^E0009]: Council Regulation (Euratom, EC) No 2185/96 of 11 November 1996 concerning on-the-spot checks and inspections carried out by the Commission in order to protect the European Communities' financial interests against fraud and other irregularities (OJ L 292, 15.11.1996, p. 2).

[^E0010]: Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2988/95 of 18 December 1995 on the protection of the European Communities financial interests (OJ L 312, 23.12.1995, p. 1).

[^E0011]: 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).

[^E0012]: Regulation (EU) 2015/847 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 May 2015 on information accompanying transfers of funds and repealing Regulation (EC) No 1781/2006 (OJ L 141, 5.6.2015, p. 1).

[^E0013]: 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).

[^E0018]: 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).’;

[^E0019]: This is a non-exclusive indication of products that may be offered via the EFSI.

[^E0020]: The term ‘operation’ applies to both direct investment in a project (debt or equity) or an ‘operation’ (projects, programmes or facilities) with a financial or other intermediary but not, for the avoidance of doubt, to the underlying projects supported by such an intermediated operation.