On the Commission delegated regulation of 28 August 2025 amending Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2021/1078 as regards strategic investments in… the field of defence set out in the investment guidelines for the InvestEU Fund

European Parliament resolution on the Commission delegated regulation of 28 August 2025 amending Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2021/1078 as regards strategic investments in the field of defence set out in the investment guidelines for the InvestEU Fund (C(2025)3802 – 2025/2846(DEA))

The European Parliament,

–having regard to the Commission delegated regulation (C(2025)03802),

–having regard to Article 290 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

–having regard to Regulation (EU) 2021/523 of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing the InvestEU Programme and amending Regulation (EU) 2015/1017, and in particular Article 8(9) and Article 34(6) thereof,

–having regard to Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2021/1078,

–having regard to Rule 114(3) of its Rules of Procedure,

A.whereas the InvestEU programme was created to stimulate investment in infrastructure, research, innovation and social projects by providing an EU budget guarantee to de-risk private investment;

B.whereas InvestEU operates as a risk-transfer mechanism in which potential losses of private intermediaries are partly covered by the Union budget; whereas this structure entails asymmetry between public risk and private gain and requires robust democratic scrutiny and accountability;

C.whereas on 17 September 2025 the European Investment Fund committed EUR 30 million under the InvestEU Defence Equity Facility to Sienna Hephaistos Private Investments S.C.A. SICAV-RAIF, marking the first direct InvestEU support to a defence-dedicated private vehicle, even before Parliament had scrutinised the delegated act extending InvestEU’s mandate;

D.whereas the delegated act of 28 August 2025 expands the definition of eligible ‘strategic investments’ to include a broader range of defence technologies and products primarily developed for military use, going beyond those listed under the European Defence Fund, in accordance with regulation (EU) 2021/697 of the European Parliament and of the Council;

E.whereas the delegated act of 28 August 2025 also extends eligibility for defence financing to entities established or managed in associated countries and to entities controlled by non-associated countries if they receive a national guarantee under an EU-funded defence programme; whereas this can effectively enable non-EU-controlled companies to access InvestEU support;

F.whereas under the original investment guidelines, a company controlled by a third country or by third-country entities could access InvestEU support for defence-related investments only if the Member State in which it is established had approved a national guarantee in accordance with the principles on eligible entities set out in Regulation (EU) 2021/697;

G.whereas the concept and list of ‘associated countries’ lack stable legal definition; whereas removing supplier-level restrictions and relaxing control over intellectual-property transfers further widens potential access for non-EU defence actors;

1.Objects to the Commission delegated regulation;

2.Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Commission and to notify it that the delegated regulation cannot enter into force;

3.Considers that the delegated act exceeds the Commission’s implementing powers by altering investment guidelines of InvestEU, enabling the funding of non-EU-controlled entities;

4.Stresses that any decision to use EU budget guarantees for defence industrial projects extending the eligibility to non-EU-controlled entities requires full legislative scrutiny; recalls that only the European Parliament can ensure democratic oversight and transparency in the allocation of EU-budget risk;

5.Calls on the Commission to refrain from using delegated acts to modify the objectives or scope of the InvestEU programme; urges it, where further changes are considered necessary, to submit a legislative proposal under the ordinary legislative procedure ensuring full democratic scrutiny by Parliament and Council;

6.Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council and to the governments and parliaments of the Member States.