Amendment No. 2 | Doc. 13513 | 25 June 2014
Challenges for the Council of Europe Development Bank
In the draft resolution, replace paragraph 3 with the following paragraph:
"The Assembly appreciates the fact that, despite the grim economic situation, no member State has failed to pay back loans, helped by the Bank's willingness to and assistance in redesigning some ongoing projects to help countries in budgetary difficulty. Although the demand for CEB loans temporarily decreased between 2011 and 2013, the interest in new projects is picking up again, with a strong emphasis on employment-support measures. The Assembly notes that in order to achieve the objectives of the Europe 2020 strategy, EU member States are encouraged to supplement the Union's resources with funding from the Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB). One of the strategic objectives of the CEB's 2014-2016 Development Plan is to work hand in hand with member States to help them make better use of European structural funds, starting with the European Social Fund. The European Social Fund allocates a minimum amount of investment to each EU member State and specifies that the remainder is to be distributed according to regional rather than national needs, an approach that allows for differences in wealth levels, which may be considerable, within countries."