EU-Commission agrees measures to get EFSI running by early autumn

The EU Commission on Wednesday agreed a package of measures to ensure that the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) is up and running by early autumn. In that context, the EU Commission published a Communication on the role of National Promotional banks (NPBs) which have important local expertise and knowledge in cooperation with the European Investment Bank (EIB). EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, Vice-President Jyrki Katainen and EIB President Werner Hoyer on Wednesday signed the EFSI agreement setting out the working methods between the EU Commission and the EIB. Further decisions include the confirmation of the projects pre-financed by the EIB which will receive the backing of the EFSI guarantee.

“One should not expect that the Fund will become a magic bullet,” cep economist Philipp Eckhardt told German business daily Handelsblatt. He also warned that the EFSI guarantees for certain investment projects can lead to a misallocation of capital.