The European Commission, the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Investment Fund (EIF) have signed a guarantee agreement for a European Union budget guarantee of EUR 19.65 billion to support investment projects across Europe, the Commission said.
The European Union has today achieved an important milestone in the implementation of the InvestEU program by signing Guarantee and Advisory Center Agreements between the European Commission, the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Investment Fund (EIF). The InvestEU program is a key pillar of the largest stimulus package in the history of the European Union. to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and help build a greener, more digital and more resilient European economy, it was announced.
InvestEU investments will focus on four policy areas: sustainable infrastructure; research, innovation and digitization; small and medium companies; and social investment and skills development, also reported.
The EIB Group (consisting of the EIB and the EIF) will implement 75% of the EU budget guarantee (EUR 19.65 billion) and the same share of the advisory budget under the InvestEU Advisory Hub. In addition to the EIB and the EIF, which are the main implementing partners, international financial institutions operating in Europe and national promotional banks will be able to use part of the guarantee (25% in total) to support investment programs and projects.
The first InvestEU projects are expected to receive the InvestEU guarantee as early as April, upon presentation to the Investment Committee.
The European Commission and the EIB have also signed an InvestEU Advisory Hub contract that will provide up to € 270 million for market development, skills development and project-level advisory services in the same policy areas. The agreements pave the way for new investments and related advisory assistance to support Europe’s recovery from the pandemic, and the ecological and digital transformation.
InvestEU consists of three components: the InvestEU Fund, the InvestEU Advisory Hub and the InvestEU Portal. By providing EU budget guarantees worth € 26.2 billion to support financial and investment operations, InvestEU will attract public and private funding to mobilize at least € 372 billion of additional investment by 2027, according to the announcement.
Source: European Commission and ISBnews
