The European Investment Bank, the EU Bank, welcomes the preliminary agreement on InvestEU, the proposed programme to boost private and public investment in Europe in the next EU multiannual financial framework 2021-2027.

The EIB Group will remain the Union’s key partner in financing European priority projects under the next EU budget, 2021 to 2027. The agreement reached by the Council, the European Parliament, and the European Commission today confirms that the EIB Group will implement 75% of InvestEU, the future programme to foster private and public investment in Europe. In addition, the EU Bank will provide the necessary banking expertise for the benefit of all implementing partners, and assure the risk management function for the overall programme.

InvestEU builds on the success of the Juncker Plan and the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) and other existing financial instruments such as CEF, InnovFin and COSME, which are managed and implemented by the EIB Group. It will be based on a EUR 38 billion guarantee from the EU budget and aim to mobilise around EUR 650 billion of investment to keep the EU social, green and competitive. On top of its 75% share in the implementation of the programme, its responsibilities for managing the banking aspects of the programme in partnership with the Commission, the EIB will provide technical support to project promoters under the InvestEU Advisory Hub, continuing the advisory work developed under the Juncker Plan.

“Today’s agreement is good news for people, companies, and financing institutions in the EU,” said Werner Hoyer, President of the EIB. “Building on the success of the Juncker Plan, it reinforces the use of financial instruments, which are an important complement to EU grants and make efficient use of scarce public resources to mobilise private investment. The EU Bank has delivered on the Juncker Plan, exceeding its original targets, and I am especially pleased that we will continue to be the Commission’s key partner for financing operations also after 2020. We look forward to working even more closely than in the past with partners such as national promotional banks, and to putting our resources and expertise at the service of our cooperation.”

The agreement is a crucial step towards the creation of the InvestEU programme, which will bring together under one roof the 14 EU financial instruments currently supporting investment in the EU, making financing easier to access. The programme will count on the specific local and sectoral expertise of international, national and regional banking institutions to complement the expertise of the EIB Group.