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The EaSI program will provide a €96 million guarantee for the period 2014-2020 which is expected to mobilise over €500 million in loans. The program targets individuals who wish to start or further develop their own social and micro-enterprises, in particular, people who have difficulties in entering the job market or in accessing finance.

Officials’ comments

Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs, Skills and Labour Mobility, Marianne Thyssen underlined that with the support of funding, tens of thousands of jobs will be created. By easing access to finance, the new enterprises will be set up and existing ones will be scaled up.

She added that the program the EU has launched in June 2015 was a “clear expression of the Commission's firm commitment to create jobs and growth and improve social conditions".

The European Investment Fund, EIF Deputy Chief Executive, Marjut Santoni said that the present agreement with the European Commission enabled the EIF to support even more micro-enterprises across Europe over the next 7 years. This program builds on the successful EU Progress Microfinance Initiative, EaSI’s predecessor, through which 50 of the EIF’s cooperation partners across more than 20 EU countries mobilised financing for more than 30,000 disadvantaged micro-entrepreneurs, many of which were previously unemployed”.

Using local financial intermediaries

The guarantee for microfinance or social finance providers is managed and implemented by the EIF on behalf of the European Commission. The €96 million EaSI Guarantee will offer credit risk protection for lending products provided to social and micro-enterprises. The previous Progress Microfinance initiative helped to create and preserve more than 47,000 jobs and the EaSI will build on its successes.

The EIF will not provide direct financial support to enterprises but will implement the facility through local financial intermediaries, such as microfinance and guarantee institutions, as well as banks active across the EU-28 and additional countries that are participating in the EaSI program.

These intermediaries will deal directly with interested parties to provide support under the facility. Countries which have the possibility to take part are EEA countries, in accordance with the EEA Agreement, and EFTA countries; EU candidate countries and potential candidate countries, in line with the framework agreements concluded with them.

European Investment Fund, EIF

The European Investment Fund (EIF) is part of the European Investment Bank group. Its central mission is to support Europe's micro, small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) by helping them to access finance. The EIF designs and develops venture and growth capital, guarantees and microfinance instruments which specifically target this market segment.

In this role, the EIF fosters EU objectives in support of innovation, research and development, entrepreneurship, growth, and employment.

The EIF’s total net commitments to private equity funds amounted to over €8.8 billion at the end of 2014. With investments in over 500 funds, the EIF is a leading player in European venture due to the scale and the scope of its investments, especially in high-tech and early-stage segments. The EIF’s guarantees loan portfolio totalled over €5.6 billion in over 350 operations at end 2014, positioning it as a major European SME guarantees actor and a leading micro-finance guarantor.

Programme for Employment and Social Innovation, EaSI

Under the European Program for Employment and Social Innovation (EaSI), the European Commission supports microfinance and social entrepreneurship finance with an overall envelope of €193 million for the period 2014-2020. The aim is to increase access to microfinance, i.e. loans of up to €25 000, in particular for vulnerable persons and micro-enterprises. In addition, for the first time, the European Commission will also support social enterprises through investments of up to €500 000.

The microfinance and social entrepreneurship support will be first implemented through the EaSI Guarantee, which shall enable microcredit providers and social enterprise investors to reach out to entrepreneurs they would not have been able to finance otherwise for risk considerations.

The European Commission has selected the EIF to implement the EaSI Guarantee.

Further information on EU microfinance and social entrepreneurship support see:

= Easi Programme;        

= EU support to social entrepreneurship

European Commission - Press release

European Commission and European Investment Fund mobilise €500 million for social and micro-entrepreneurs

Brussels, 24 June 2015

http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-15-5248_en.htm?locale=en

Support for science: European Fund for Strategic Investments, EFSI

The regulation creating the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) was formally adopted by the European Parliament on 24 June 2015, paving the way for implementation in the second half of the year.

Following the agreement reached in “trilogue” discussions between the European Commission, the Council and the Parliament, the vote confirmed that the guarantee for the fund will be financed via the reallocation of resources originally dedicated to the Connecting Europe Facility and the EU Horizon 2020 program.

The increased use of available margins in the budget nevertheless decreases the contribution of Horizon 2020 from €2.7 billion to €2.2 billion. The Council of the EU is expected to formally endorse the regulation by written procedure before it enters into force in July.

The European University Association (EUA) notes that the new amount of €2.2 billion will be spread over the other pillars of Horizon 2020 (excluding “Excellent Science” and “Spreading Excellence and Widening Participation”) in proportion to the distribution initially proposed by the Commission.

While fundamental research is not affected by EFSI, with the funding originally foreseen for the European Research Council and Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions being restored, collaborative research remains gravely hit by these cuts.

EUA deeply regrets the signal that is being sent to the research community in this regard, and recalls the importance of university research for Europe’s overall economic recovery.

On behalf of Europe’s universities, EUA will hold the European institutions and the EU governments to their promise of making the most extensive use of available margins in the EU budget each year, with the view to relieve the pressure on Horizon 2020 resources. The second draft budget for 2016 that the European Commission is expected to release soon will constitute a first test.

Reference: EUA policy brief on EFSI