15/07/2019 (Agence Europe) – On Monday 15 July, the European Commission announced an additional €800 million investment plan for innovative SMEs, bringing to €1.62 billion the support provided by the European Investment Bank (EIB) and ProCredit Group under the European Strategic Investment Fund, the fund of the Investment Plan for Europe (so-called Juncker Plan). Now available from ProCredit banks in South-Eastern and Eastern Europe (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Moldova, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia and Ukraine), this financing will be aimed at SMEs using new technologies and developing new products. These agreements were signed under the European Commission's InnovFin initiative, supported by the EU's Research and Innovation Framework Programme Horizon 2020. The ‘InnovFin SME Guarantee Facility’ will provide a guarantee to the selected banks, allowing them to provide more debt financing. (MM – intern)