Call For Evidence

COMMITTEE INQUIRY: EUROPEAN INVESTMENT BANK

The European and External Affairs Committee has decided to conduct an inquiry on the role of the European Investment Bank, with a view to increasing the opportunities for funding projects in Wales; and is calling for those with an interest or expertise in this area to submit written evidence.

Background

The European Investment Bank is the long-term lending bank of the European Union (EU). Shareholders are the Member States; and the Board of Governors is composed of the Finance Ministers of these States. The Bank has subscribed capital of €250 billion and is a non-profit making institution.  The main role of the Bank is to contribute towards the integration, balanced development and economic and social cohesion of the EU Member States.

The Bank raises substantial volumes of funds on the capital markets, which it lends on favourable terms to projects furthering EU policy objectives; such as - cohesion, convergence, small and medium sized enterprises, environmental projects, implementation of the Innovation 2010 Initiative,  Trans-European Networks,  promoting sustainable, competitive and secure energy sources, and support for health and education.

Terms of Reference

The Committee will:

• Explore the opportunities offered by the European Investment Bank for funding infrastructure projects in Wales;

• Examine exemplars of projects outside the United Kingdom; and

• Make recommendations to the Welsh Assembly Government, to facilitate investment by the European Investment Bank in Wales.
  

The call for evidence is to seek your views on the following issues:

What type of investment opportunities and support are offered by the European Investment Bank (the Bank) for projects in Wales?

• What are the benefits, or otherwise, of working with the Bank?

• To what extent are public and private organisations in Wales benefiting from funding provided by the Bank?

• To what extent is the Welsh Assembly Government engaging with the Bank, to explore investment opportunities in Wales?

• How are these opportunities promoted and facilitated in Wales?

• What lessons can we learn from other United Kingdom and European regions?

• Please feel free to make any other comments or observations, which you consider to be pertinent to our inquiry.

Interested parties are invited to submit written evidence to the Clerk of the Committee at the address below, to arrive no later than Monday 31 December 2007. If possible, please supply an electronic version in MS Word or Rich Text Format, either by e-mail Europe.comm@Wales.gsi.gov.uk or on a disk.

Please indicate whether you would be interested in presenting your views to the Committee.

It is normal practice for the National Assembly to publish evidence provided to a committee. Consequently your response may appear in a report or in supplementary evidence to a report. The National Assembly will not publish information which it considers to be personal data.

In the event of a request for information submitted under United Kingdom legislation, it may be necessary to disclose the information that you provide. This may include information which has previously been removed by the National Assembly for Wales for publication purposes.

If you are providing any information, other than personal data, which you feel is not suitable for public disclosure, it is your responsibility to stipulate which parts should not be published, and to provide a reasoned argument to support this. The National Assembly for Wales will take this into account when publishing information or responding to requests for information.