Statement by the Commission following the EIB’s decision of the next projects to be pre-financed as part of the Investment Plan for Europ

Yesterday the European Investment Bank (EIB) announced that it has approved financing for four investment projects as part of the Investment Plan for Europe, in which it is the Commission’s strategic partner. These projects are in energy efficiency investment to reduce heating bills of private homes in France; new renewable energy and related transmission links in links in northern and western Europe; reduction of industrial energy use in Finland; and improvement to gas transmission in Spain.Yesterday’s decision follows the EIB’s announcement on 22 April of the first projects to receive pre-financing, and it is in line with the European Council conclusions of December 2014 which invited the EIB Group to “start activities by using its own funds as of January 2015“. The European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), which is at the heart of the Investment Plan, should be up and running by September 2015, pending the successful conclusion of negotiations between the co-legislators. This EIB pre-financing is without prejudice to being eligible for EFSI-financing, the exact criteria for which are still being negotiated by the co-legislators.For more information on the EIB’s announcement including quotes from Vice-President Katainen, Vice-President Šefčovič and Commissioner Cañete, please see the full Commission statement.