Brussels, 14/10/2005 (Agence Europe) - The Commissioner responsible for regional policy Danuta Hübner, the President of the European Investment Bank (EIB) Philippe Maystadt and the Vice President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) Steven Kaempfer on 13 October presented to the press two new initiatives for cohesion policy: JASPERS and JEREMIE. These initiatives, which were enthusiastically welcomed by the ministers in charge of regional policy from the EU of 25 and also from Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia and Turkey at a seminar on 11 October in Brussels, aim to assist regional and national authorities in preparing projects with broad impact for the next programming period and to improve access to funding for small and medium-sized enterprises. They will involve closer cooperation between the Commission, the EIB, the EBRD, the European Investment Fund (EIF), and international financial institutions such as the World Bank and the Council of Europe. These initiatives will be presented at the conference on 24 November in Brussels on funding for growth and cohesion in the enlarged EU (see EUROPE 9046).
Danuta Hübner recalled that for the last 9-10 months her priority had been cooperation between banks, as this can help ensure better use of resources. “So we have tried to make better use of existing potential, and the two banks are our partners”, she noted. The programme JASPERS (Joint Assistance to Support Projects in the European Regions) is "a new technical assistance partnership between the Commission (DG Regional), the EIB and the EBRD. It gives national and regional authorities the opportunity to make better use of resources in our regions, and enables them to benefit from the advice of financial and technical experts and be supported by the two partner banks”, Ms Hübner explained, adding that “the projects should be of high quality and feasible”. On the subject of JEREMIE (Joint European Resources for Micro-to-Medium Enterprises), the Commissioner said that it was a funding mechanism to help SMEs to overcome the difficulties they face in Europe. JASPERS and JEREMIE are voluntary programmes: only those Member States and regions which wish to cooperate will do so, Ms Hübner said. The Commission's job for the moment will be to complete the necessary legal and technical work in order to present them at the conference at the end of November.
Through these initiatives the EIB has three objectives: 1) help beneficiary countries and regions to make the best use of Structural Funds, which is important for growth and employment; 2) bring together all available expertise in to the benefit of interested partners. This will entail “structured” cooperation between the main institutions; 3) attempt to combine to better effect the EU's budgetary resources with the financial resources of the EIB. As Philippe Maystadt explained, the JASPERS team of qualified experts, which will be based in Luxembourg, comes from the EIB “but they can also be found in other institutions, mainly the EBRD”. As for JEREMIE, “it is a process whereby the Member States and the regions will be able to use part of the Structural Funds through the EIF", Philippe Maystadt continued, adding that “the goal is to achieve an overall group of tailor-made financial products for enterprises”. And in conclusion: “JEREMIE is a sort of toolbox. It will act as a catalyst to help SMEs access the Funds”.
Steven Kaempfer, who was also delighted to be participating in “this substantial political initiative launched by Danuta Hübner”, pointed out that the EBRD has been the main investor in Central and Eastern Europe and Russia since it began its activities in 1991. The Bank has up to now invested more than 9 billion euros in 8 new Member States of the EU. Mr Kaempfer stressed that for JASPERS, the EBRD can contribute “its expertise in the development of public-private partnership, the environment, the development of renewable sources of energy, and financing of infrastructures and projects”. For JEREMIE, Steven Kaempfer emphasised that “what the EBRD wants is to finance SMEs and practice microfinance”.
In response to a question on the eligibility of Member States for JASPERS, Danuta Hübner stressed the fact that the initiative is open to all the Member States. But she acknowledged that “it is true that we are particularly interested in regions in the convergence States - Germany, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Italy, France - therefore going beyond the new Member States”. On the “avalanche of SMEs” which will request microcredits from the EIF, Philippe Maystadt replied that it is “obvious that the EIF will not deal directly with a multitude of SMEs. The EIF is a catalyst to transform the Structural Funds into financial products and work with a whole range of partners, such as microcredit agencies and venture capital funds”.