Luxembourg, 03/11/2003 (Agence Europe) - The European Investment Bank is to provide a EUR 100 loan to fund investment as part of Sardinia's Operational Programme. This the first tranche of a fifteen year EUR 200 million loan at variable interest. The funding from the EIB will be added to funding from the Structural Funds for the 2000-2006 period. The money will be used to help the region of Sardinia contribute to the Operational Programme, the remaining sum being provided by other EU funding, and national and private investment. The investment programme includes infrastructure work (water management, forestry, environmental protection and the promotion of renewable energy) and measures aiming to promote initiatives by the private sector with a view to rationalising production and creating new companies.
The way the funding is being provided is similar to the system used for the investment programmes implemented by the Italian regions of Basilicata, Campania and Puglia. Coming under the the Community Support Framework, the loan bears witness to a deepening of relations between the EIB and the Structural Funds in the Mezzogiorno (southern Italy). This mode of financing, which the EIB christened in Italy, will serve as a reference model in the future for cooperation between the European Commission and the EIB in all regions covered by Objective 1 and also, following on from recent experiments, for intervention in the European Union's forthcoming new Member States.