Brussels, 08/07/2013 (Agence Europe) - At the end of last week, the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the Intesa Sanpaolo Group signed six new agreements worth €661 million, to provide medium- and long-term finance totalling €661 million to Italian businesses. The EIB says that the initiative “is ultimately intended to strengthen the support offered to Italy's productive sector, to mitigate the effects of the financial crisis and help with the incipient recovery process”. The money will be divided into six areas: €400 million for small businesses, which will have access to loans on particularly favourable terms; €20 million for lending to university students enrolled in EU universities with a presence in Italy that have an agreement with the Intesa Sanpaolo Group; €16 million for social housing in Parma; €100 million for renewable energy; €65 million for increasing the energy efficiency of schools in the Milan region; and €60 million to finance small and medium-sized projects involving environmental protection and sustainable communities. (OL/transl.fl)