The Amsterdam Special Action Programme (ASAP) unveiled by the European Investment Bank (EIB) on the heels of the Resolution on Growth and Employment adopted by the Heads of State or Government at their Amsterdam Summit in June 1997 has already borne fruit with tangible and encouraging results. Within the space of a few months, starting from this summer, the EIB's Board of Directors has approved close on ECU 2 billion worth of loans in the health and education sectors now eligible for financing following the go-ahead given to ASAP. The capital projects targeted by this lending range across nine of the European Union's Member Countries and are for the most part located in less-favoured regions (Objective 1 areas). Three groundbreaking projects in the health sector centre on hospital modernisation schemes in Berlin and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern plus construction of a new hospital in Thessaloniki, while financing for the educational sector has initially gone in support of university infrastructure in Ireland, Portugal and the French overseas department of Réunion. Tailor-made credit lines ("global loans") have also been approved with a view to supporting smaller-scale health and educational schemes in France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark and Finland.

ASAP's most innovative feature lies in the creation of a "SME Window" offering special facilities complementing the EIB's traditional global loan operations in favour of smaller businesses. This Window comprises new venture capital instruments, notably the "European Technology Facility" (ETF) equipped with funds totalling ECU 125 million and managed by the EIF since 20 November 1997. The EIF expects to conclude three contracts under the ETF (in Austria, France and the UK) before the end of the year. Due to be deployed in close co-operation with the banking sector, a series of global loans and other custom-made operations designed to inject fresh growth into venture capital markets throughout the Union has also been initiated by the Bank. A first batch of such loans, for ECU 50 million in all, has already been inaugurated with IMI in Italy, SOFARIS in France and ICO in Spain.

Since October 1997, loans to the tune of over ECU 2.2 billion have been approved for both urban development and environmental infrastructure schemes, chiefly in Spain, France, Germany (Berlin) and Italy. The Bank is continuing to refine its palette of capital investment financing formats in these sectors which have already attracted its support in recent years to the extent of some ECU 4 billion to ECU 6 billion per annum.

Furthermore, whereas lending for TEN (trans-European network), urban development and environmental protection projects averaged ECU 13 billion over the two-year period 1995-1996, the financial year 1997 has witnessed performance in these areas surging to more than ECU 15 billion as a result of committed efforts to step up the flow of financing in response to the wishes of the Amsterdam European Council.

The Amsterdam Special Action Programme (ASAP), a pro-active response to the Resolution of the Heads of State or Government on Growth and Employment adopted at the European Council meeting in Amsterdam (June 1997), contains a number of novel features, in particular that of the assumption of risks by the EIB in favour of innovative SMEs, guaranteed by means of the Bank's operating surpluses to the tune of ECU 1 billion up until the year 2000. The principal features of the programme, which had already occupied the minds of the Bank's managing bodies for a number of months, are as follows:

1. A special SME window

This window has been set up to provide, from EIB resources, high-technology or growth-oriented SMEs with risk-sharing instruments, subordinated loans or venture capital assistance. It involves first of all a number of "risk-sharing global loans", arranged by the EIB in close co-operation with its partners from the European banking community. In some cases these tailor-made global loans may also lead to venture capital being provided for specialist banking subsidiaries. With a reserve of some ECU 800 million drawn from the ECU 1 billion earmarked for ASAP, risk-sharing global loans and venture capital injections are expected to make funds of between ECU 5 and 8 billion available for innovative SMEs.At the same time, a new "European Technology Facility" (ETF) has recently been created by the EIB jointly with the European Investment Fund (EIF) in order to provide venture and equity capital to support projects carried out by growth-oriented and high-technology SMEs. The ETF has been allocated ECU 125 million by the EIB and is being administered by the EIF under a Bank fiduciary and management agreement. The ETF will acquire holdings in funds or venture capital companies which specialise in providing equity for SMEs in their start-up phase or undergoing expansion; the anticipated leverage effect is expected to be of the order of ECU 500 to 800 million of quasi-capital for SMEs. The ETF's ECU 125 million will augment the ECU 75 million of venture capital operations already arranged by the EIF since June 1996. This means that a total of ECU 200 million in venture capital is being allocated by the two institutions in favour of innovative SMEs, i.e. a volume whose critical mass is in line with the requirements of Europe's economy which, in 1996, invested some $500 million (ECU 430 million) in the form of venture capital.

2. Education, health, urban renewal and the environment

Expansion of EIB operations in the fields of education, health, urban renewal and environmental protection has been approved by the Governors. The Bank has started to examine major projects targeting education and health in Germany, Spain and Greece, and global loans are being arranged in favour of this type of investment in Belgium, France and the Netherlands. At the same time, existing global loans in favour of infrastructure projects are being extended to cover health and education. The Bank is also fine-tuning its lending procedures for urban renewal and environmental protection schemes (in these areas it provides finance worth ECU 4 to 6 billion a year), in respect of which some 20 projects are in the final stages of negotiation in Germany (notably in Berlin), France, Spain, the Netherlands and Italy.

3. TENs: a fresh impetus

A fresh impetus has been given to financing trans-European networks (TENs) and other large-scale infrastructure projects: the Bank, which participates in the high-level Working Group chaired by Mr Neil Kinnock (Member of the European Commission) on financing TENs, will extend certain aspects of its "Special TENs window” through, inter alia, particularly long grace and repayment periods, "custom-made” financing, earlier participation in project preparation and increased support for Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs). In recent months, the EIB's Board of Directors has approved loans totalling over ECU 3.6 billion for TENs, including several PPPs, in Germany, the United Kingdom, Belgium and Italy. Where certain major infrastructure and environmental projects are concerned, the Bank will, in specific cases, be able to consider raising the amount of its loans above the normal ceiling of 50% of project cost and provide its support earlier by financing feasibility studies.