Brussels, 11/03/2016 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 10 March, the European Investment Bank (EIB) announced the approval of financing from the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), the financial arm of the Juncker Plan, to support additional investment to a total of €4.5 billion.
The nine projects approved for use of the EU budget guarantee cover a number of domains, including replacing a coal-fired district heating plant in Germany, new roads to alleviate congestion in the Netherlands, the relocation of a key Irish container port in Cork and expanding updated milk production in France.
“EIB lending backed by the EU budget under the Investment Plan for Europe is now accelerating, enabling the EIB to support the projects that need it most, catalysing and accelerating private investment,” said EIB president Werner Hoyer.
Operational since the autumn of 2015, the Juncker Plan aims to stimulate €315 billion of additional investment over three years (see EUROPE 11496). Recently, the president of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, said he wanted the plan to continue on beyond 2018. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)