Brussels, 21/04/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 21 April, Poland announced that it would contribute €8 billion to projects financed by the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), the financial arm of the Juncker investment plan.
The Polish contribution will be channelled through the Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego (BGK), the national development bank. This method has already been chosen by the following member states: Germany (€8 billion via KfW), Spain (€1.5 billion via l'ICO), France (€8 billion via CD and Bpi), Italy (€8 billion via CDP) and Luxembourg (€80 million via SNCI).
According to the communication on the Flexibility in the Stability and Growth Pact, national co-financing for projects supported by the EFSI will be included in the scope of application of the 'investment clause' and will be neutral from a budgetary point of view only for member states not under excessive deficit proceedings (deficit below 3% of GDP) (see EUROPE 11229).
“I was delighted to hear the good news from Finance Minister Mateusz Szczurek in person, that Poland would be contributing to the investment plan. It will be the sixth country to make a contribution”, said the Commissioner for Growth, Jyrki Katainen, in a press release.
The Commission has welcomed the positions adopted the day before by the economic and monetary affairs and budgets committees of the European Parliament on the proposed regulation instituting the EFSI (see EUROPE 11298). It has called for a “strong” guarantee fund to be set in place, based on the EU budget, arguing that without it, it will be hard to reassure investors that the Juncker plan will work. The member states “unanimously” supported the Commission's proposal, a spokesperson for the European institution stressed. This proposal, which was rejected by the EP on Monday, consists of starting by taking €8 billion from the EU budget (from the 'Horizon 2020' and the Connecting Europe Facility, amongst others) to build a public guarantee of €16 billion once the EFSI is up and running. (Mathieu Bion)