Brussels, 05/10/2015 (Agence Europe) - European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker's investment plan for Europe can help reverse the negative impact of budgetary cuts in education and training under the austerity programmes adopted by member states in response to the economic crisis. Education and Training Commissioner Tibor Navracsics chaired a high-level conference in Brussels on Monday 5 October at which he stressed the importance of investing massively at all stages of education in Europe and to inform participants of the existing European mechanisms to provide this investment, including the European fund for strategic investments (EFSI).
“I want to make sure that education benefits from the Investment Plan as much as possible. And I know that together, we can reverse the alarming trend of underinvestment and get fresh money flowing into education right across Europe”, said Navracsics.
One of the priorities of the Commission's investment plan is the creation of a new European fund for strategic investments (EFSI), a specialised fund, managed and hosted by the European Investment Bank (EIB and jointly financed by the EIB and the European Commission. It will finance strategic projects throughout the European Union, including in education. The new fund, which will operate choices of strategic investments, is expected to attract private investors as it will be responsible for the most complex parts of the transactions and will assume the greater part of the risks. The Commission wants to help member states derive the greatest possible advantage from the EFSI and the EIB to finance innovative educational projects, the commissioner made clear, pointing out that the EIB has already played an important role in financing educational projects, investing €4.8 billion last year. “We need smart projects, and we need them as soon as possible”, Navracsics told participants, who were able to ask the questions that concerned them and learn about projects already being implemented. (Original version in French by Isabelle Lamberty)