Brussels, 11/07/2016 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 11 July, the European Commission announced the launch of two new financial instruments: a co-investment instrument for SMEs and the introduction of an urban development fund to support green projects in cities.
The first instrument seeks to provide financial assistance to start-ups and SMEs. It consists of a mutual fund managed by a major financial intermediary. Public and Private co-financing could be as much as €15 million for each SME. Over the 2007-13 period, the SAS JEREMIE co-financing project in the French region of Languedoc-Roussillon preceded this new instrument. The aim at the time was to attract private capital to support the hi-tech sectors.
The urban development fund will involve a main cluster of projects in public transport and energy efficiency, as well as the regeneration of urban areas. They are expected to be part of the integrated sustainable urban development strategies planned for cohesion policy during the 2014-2020 period. In this connection, investment could reach a maximum of €20 million per project and will consist of a lending fund managed by a financial intermediary backed up by structural and investment funds (ESI), as well as the contribution of at least 30% from private capital. In this connection, the Polish region of Pomerania formed the testing area during the previous programming period.
These two “key” instruments seek to help achieve the current Commission target of doubling ESI investment in financial instruments (loans, own funds and guarantees). In this connection, the Commission set up three financial instruments at the very beginning of 2015 (EUROPE 11233). The Commission has high expectations for these instruments in its goal of making good the shortfall in public investment and counterbalancing the reduction of cohesion funds in the future (see other article), to the great disappointment of the local and regional authorities. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)