EU Budget 2021-2027: Commission welcomes Parliament’s green light on InvestEU
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The European Commission welcomes today’s vote in the European Parliament on InvestEU, the programme to boost investment in Europe in the next long-term EU budget. This vote brings InvestEU one step closer to its creation.
InvestEU will make EU funding for investment projects simpler to access and more effective. Building on the success of the Juncker Plan, it will bring together under one roof and with a single brand the European Fund for Strategic Investments and 13 other EU financial instruments currently supporting investment in the EU.
President Jean-Claude Juncker said: “The Investment Plan put Europe back in business and delivered on this Commission’s number one priority: creating jobs and growth. But we can do more and that’s what InvestEU is about. By making smart use of the EU’s budget, InvestEU will help Europe stay an attractive place for investors worldwide. Over the next decade, the programme will unlock at least €650 billion for Europe to invest in its future, its economy and its people.”
Vice-President Jyrki Katainen, responsible for Jobs, Growth, Investment and Competitiveness, said: “The next generation of investment support in the EU is almost there. Soon, businesses and entrepreneurs will get easier access to EU funding to turn their ideas into concrete projects. It will help keep the EU at the forefront of innovation and climate action, while creating jobs and ensuring a growth model that is socially, environmentally and economically sustainable.”
InvestEU will keep the Juncker Plan’s innovative approach to investment, by using limited amounts of public resources with an EU budget guarantee to leverage substantial private and public funds. The €38 billion guarantee will target investments in four main areas: sustainable infrastructure; research, innovation and digitisation; small and medium businesses and social investment and skills. It should trigger at least €650 billion in additional investment in Europe.
Similarly to the Juncker Plan, the InvestEU Fund will be accompanied by the InvestEU Advisory Hub – tailored support to project promoters – and the InvestEU Portal – an easily accessible pipeline of mature projects for potential investors. Also like in the Juncker Plan, InvestEU will be a part of the Commission’s economic policy mix of investment, structural reforms and fiscal responsibility, to ensure Europe remains an attractive place for businesses to settle and thrive.
InvestEU is a partnership with the European Investment Bank Group (EIB), the EU Bank, and will be open to other implementing partners as well. The budgetary aspects of InvestEU are still subject to the overall agreement on the next long-term EU budget, which the Commission proposed in May 2018.
Latest figures from the European Investment Bank, the Commission’s strategic partner on the Juncker Plan, show that by April 2019, the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) had mobilised almost €393 billion of investments. Operations approved under EFSI so far represent a total financing volume of €72.8 billion in all 28 Member States. The EIB has approved 524 infrastructure projects supported by EFSI for €53.8 billion, while the European Investment Fund has approved 554 financing agreements for small and medium businesses worth €19 billion, which should benefit 945,000 companies.
For more information
Memo: InvestEU Programme – questions and answers
Factsheet: What is InvestEU?
Factsheet: InvestEU – what will it finance?
Press release on the InvestEU proposal (6 June 2018): InvestEU Programme to support jobs, growth and innovation in Europe
Proposal for a Regulation establishing the InvestEU Programme(6 June 2018)
President Juncker on Twitter: @JunckerEU
Vice-President Katainen on Twitter: @jyrkikatainen
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