EU – Baltic States, Funds, Investments, Modern EU

 InvestEU will make EU funding for investment projects simpler to access and more effective. The program 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.

The European investment plan will put member states’ entrepreneurship back on an active path fulfilling the EU and the states’ main priority: creating jobs and growth. “By making smart use of the EU's budget, Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker added, the InvestEU will help the states occupy an attractive place for investors worldwide”.

Vice-President Jyrki Katainen, responsible for jobs, growth, investment and competitiveness in the member states noted that InvestEU would help businesses and entrepreneurs getting easier access to EU funding while turning their ideas into concrete projects. Thus, the program will keep the member states 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 member states’ innovative approach to investment, by using so far quite limited public resources in the states with the EU budget’s guarantees to leverage substantial private and public funds. The 38 bn EUR guarantee will target investments in four main areas: sustainable infrastructure; research, innovation and digitisation; small and medium businesses and social investment and skills. The program is expected to trigger at least 650 bn EUR in additional investment in the EU states.

A special InvestEU Fund will be administered by the InvestEU Advisory Hub, which is tailored to support innovation promoters; in addition to the InvestEU Portal – an easily accessible pipeline of mature projects for potential investors.

Besides, InvestEU will be a part of the Commission's economic policy mix of investment, structural reforms and fiscal responsibility, to ensure that the member states remain an attractive place for businesses around the world to settle and thrive.

As to organising the investment flows, the InvestEU will be in partnership with the European Investment Bank Group (EIB) and other EU funds; though 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, show that by April 2019, the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) had mobilised almost 393 bn EUR of investments. Operations approved under EFSI so far represent a total financing volume of 72.8 bn EUR in all EU-28 states. The EIB has approved 524 infrastructure projects supported by EFSI for 53.8 bn EUR, while the European Investment Fund has approved 554 financing agreements for small and medium businesses worth 19 bn EUR, which should benefit 945,000 companies.

More information in the following Commission’s web links:

-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 Program (6 June 2018); - EU budget for the future

General reference: Press release “EU Budget 2021-2027: Commission welcomes Parliament's green light on InvestEU”, in: http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-19-2149_en.htm?locale=en/18.04.2019.