Following last week’s meeting of the European Investment Bank‘s (EIB) Board of Directors, the Juncker Plan is now expected to trigger more than EUR 225 billion in investments. This comes just over two years after the Juncker Commission launched the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) at the heart of the Plan and represents well over two-thirds of the EUR 315 billion target of total investments mobilised that was originally earmarked.
The operations approved under the EFSI represent a total financing volume of over EUR 43 billion and are located in all 28 Member States. The EIB has now approved 276 EFSI-backed operations, supported by EUR 33.7 billion in EFSI financing.
The European Investment Fund (EIF) has approved 296 SME financing agreements, with total financing under the EFSI of just under EUR 10 billion. Around 445,000 SMEs and Midcaps are expected to benefit from improved access to finance as a result of these EIF agreements.
Recent loan agreements made possible by the Juncker Plan’s EFSI include EUR 150 million to upgrade broadband networks in Greece, EUR 30 million to finance the construction of new state of the art facilities at the University of Latvia and EUR 125 million to support the construction of over 2,000 social housing units in Barcelona. The Commission is working closely with the Parliament and Member States towards the final adoption of the proposal to extend and reinforce the EFSI
