Discover key insights from the Investment barriers report 2023, an authoritative assessment by the European Investment Bank Group on investment hurdles in the European Union. The report underscores the pivotal role of investment in the economy while meticulously detailing the constraints that impede investment at the national and EU level. This year's report takes a particular look at the role of commercial power purchase agreements in renewable energy projects, climate resilience investments in transport systems, antimicrobial resistance, the forestry sector, and cross-border infrastructure projects. It is an essential read for anyone looking to understand the investment landscape within the European Union.
The European economy is under pressure. Growth is slowing and competitive challenges are rising, all while EU firms navigate the demands of the green transition. Coordinated support from national governments and EU institutions proved critical after the COVID-19 pandemic, helping Europe to bolster its resilience to future shocks and spurring the investment needed to transform and modernise the economy. As a result, progress was made in digitalisation, energy efficiency, decarbonisation and reinforcing supply chains. The pace of change needs to accelerate, however, even as investment becomes harder to sustain. To remain competitive, the European Union and its members need to improve productivity, encourage innovation, address skill gaps, develop new technologies and supporting young, dynamic firms. The report, which is based on the EIB Group's annual Investment Survey, provides insights on how EU firms are dealing with these pressures, and whether they are taking the necessary steps to transform their businesses. These key findings, provide a short accessible summary of the main report's messages.
This unique insight into the corporate investment in the European Union examines companies' finance needs and the constraints they face. The 2023 edition also provides insight into the pressing issues facing firms, such as climate change, high energy costs and the green transition. The survey, which has been administered since 2016, covers about 13 000 firms across the European Union, including a small sample of US firms.
A blueprint presents drawings, dimensions and notes. This report draws vivid pictures of the beneficiaries of European Investment Bank projects in 2023. It includes data on the dimensions of our massive overall investment and the importance of our loans to each of our beneficiaries during the year. It notes the EU policies and expertise that lead us to make each of our investments.
European trade defence law has expanded sufficiently in the last few years to require a new edition of this definitive work, last revised in 2004. As trade law practitioners and scholars have come to expect from the Brussels law firm Van Bael & Bellis, the fifth edition provides comprehensive, up-to-date analysis and critical commentary on EU trade defence instruments dealing with anti-dumping measures, countervailing measures, and safeguard measures, as well as measures under the Trade Barriers Regulation. It gives detailed attention to all EU cases and other developments at WTO level that have occurred up to December 2010. The emphasis throughout is on practical application of the rules. The authors cover every issue likely to arise in any trade defence matter, including all of the following and more: determining the dumping and injury margins; determining the subsidy margin; determining the causal link between dumping or subsidy and injury; determining if 'Union interest’ calls for intervention; differences between anti-dumping and anti-subsidy legislation; procedural rules applicable to complaints, initiation of proceedings, investigations, protective measures, reviews, and refunds; conditions for accepting an undertaking; measures that may be taken to prevent ‘circumvention’ of anti-dumping measures; rules for the determination of permissible adjustments; rules governing the standing of various interested parties before the European Courts; rules and procedure applicable to non-market economy countries; special rules on products originating in a developing country; allocation and administration of quantitative quotas; surveillance measures; and whether and to what extent safeguard measures are subject to judicial review. For each of the four major categories of trade defence instruments, chapters deal with the substantive rules of the trade defence instruments concerned, the relief that may be ordered under these instruments, and the procedural provisions. The important changes in the EU decision-making process for trade defence cases to be introduced in March 2011 are taken fully into account. An extensive battery of tables and annexes leads the practitioner to all the essential primary source material in the field. As a detailed and practical commentary on the international trade legislation of the Union as actually applied by the Union Institutions, this is the preeminent work in the field. Lawyers and academics involved with trade contracts or disputes need have no doubt that it is still without peer as a guide to EU trade defence instruments.
The inside story of the European Fund for Strategic Investments from 2015 to 2020 told through interviews with the Managing Director, Deputy Managing Director, members of the Investment Committee and final beneficiaries across Europe. The architects of this €500 billion-plus programme, the head of the EU bank and the president of the European Commission, describe the genesis of this financial pillar of the Investment Plan for Europe. Then the people who ran one of the biggest economic stimulus programmes in history detail how they did it—and what the lessons are for policymakers responding to new crises, including the economic shock caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The European Fund for Strategic Investments has been one of the good news stories to emerge in a decade of economic uncertainty. It has gone well beyond its highly ambitious target of €500 billion in mobilised investments. The Juncker Plan has made a strong contribution to the 14 million jobs created in the EU between 2015 and 2020. It has become a success in co-financing projects that otherwise might not have been carried through. It has also charted the path towards new ways of financing. This is not only the case in relatively conventional areas, such as infrastructure, but also in sectors like research and innovation or the contribution to climate change mitigation. This is exactly what makes EFSI so ground-breaking: responding to the needs of the market through continuous financial innovation. The principle of the European Fund for Strategic Investments is here to stay. It has paved the way for its successor, the InvestEU programme, which is to be deployed under the 2021-2027 multiannual financial framework. This publication details why the programme was such a success.
This Review assesses Ukraine’s investment climate vis-à-vis the country’s energy sector reforms and discusses challenges and opportunities in this context. Capitalising on the OECD Policy Framework for Investment and other relevant instruments and guidance, the Review takes a broad approach to investment climate challenges facing Ukraine’s energy sector.
