Fully in line with the objectives of the European Union, the European Investment Bank (EIB) has decided to assist France’s Picardy Region with its project for the construction and refurbishment of lycées (upper secondary schools) and higher education facilities, which has the triple objective of adapting to requirements, upgrading and enhancing the energy efficiency of the Region’s educational infrastructure. The EUR 100m finance contract was signed on Friday 16 October 2015 at the Region's headquarters by Claude Gewerc, President of the Picardy Region, and Alain Nadeau, Head of the EIB's Banks and Corporates Division.

This is the EIB's first direct loan to the Picardy Region in the education sector. Given the current market credit crunch, the principal advantage of this loan is that it enables the Picardy Region to obtain long-term loans on favourable financing terms thanks to the EIB's AAA rating. The loan ties in with the ongoing quality partnership that has formed between the EIB and the Picardy Region, which began in 2014 with the financing of TER rolling stock via a EUR 54m loan.

This financing operation aims to support the Region’s educational and environmental policy and supply upgraded infrastructure that is needed for high-quality vocational and technical education. The operation targets 26 lycées and vocational schools throughout the region: specifically, it will serve to meet the requirements of the lycées, in terms of education, teaching and school life, whilst at the same time taking account of demographic, socioeconomic and local trends in the region. It will improve accessibility for the disabled and enable substantial gains to be made in terms of energy efficiency and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. An energy audit of the region's entire school building stock will thus serve to optimise future investment in energy efficiency.

Directly benefiting secondary school pupils, this loan illustrates the level of Europe’s mobilisation and support for national and regional projects aimed at overcoming the challenge of youth employment in Europe.

"This is a key financing operation for the Region", remarked EIB Vice-President Ambroise Fayolle, "via a deliberate policy of education and environmental responsibility. The upgrading of the lycées and educational facilities is vital for training and climate action. And we are responsible for creating the optimum conditions for financing such projects, which are drivers of regional economic growth, employment and social cohesion. We are thus paving the way for the success and integration of young people into the professional world.”

This loan forms part of a multi-regional lycées programme that the EIB has introduced to help finance projects in seven French regions* that had previously received little funding from the Bank.

*Burgundy, Franche-Comté, Champagne-Ardenne, Limousin, Auvergne and Picardy for an aggregate amount of EUR 700m.