Brussels, 08/07/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 8 July, Romania decided to allocate €100 million from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) to the SME initiative to help the country's SMEs.
Co-financed by the European Union as part of the COSME (see EUROPE 11200) and Horizon 2020 programmes, the SME Initiative is a joint financial instrument of the European Commission, the European Investment Bank (ECB) and the European Investment Fund (EIF), which is part of the EIB group and seeks to strengthen SME activity by partially covering the risks linked to the portfolio of contracted loans. This instrument is an integral part of the Juncker plan (see EUROPE 11312), which seeks to help relaunch the European economy through investment and double funding through cohesion policy (see EUROPE 11338). Commissioner for Regional Policy Corina Cretu underlined the fact that it provided a major opportunity for job creation and economic growth in Romania and pointed out that “the SME Initiative does not require co-financing from national or regional resources; without tapping into limited public budget, it is a major opportunity for job creation and economic growth in Romania”.
In total, six operational programmes are planned for Romania as part of 2014-20 cohesion policy, with an envelope of €23 billion.
Member states have until the end of 2016 to apply to join this initiative. So far, only Spain, Malta and Bulgaria have decided to take this step (see EUROPE 11340). (Pascal Hansens)