EC welcomes European Parliament's position on InvestEU
17 Jan 2019 01:20 PM
The European Commission yesterday welcomed vote by the European Parliament to agree its position on InvestEU, the proposed programme to boost private and public investment in Europe in the next long-term EU budget.
The vote marks an important step towards the creation of the programme, which will bring together under one roof the EU's financial instruments for investment in the European Union and should trigger at least €650 billion of investment. The Commission now calls on Member States to swiftly agree their position to be able to start the discussions between the three institutions.
Vice-President Jyrki Katainen, responsible for Jobs, Growth, Investment and Competitiveness, yesterday said: "Europe needs more investments to boost jobs, innovation and skills. With InvestEU we are taking the game-changing model of the Investment Plan one step further, expanding it to the whole range of EU funding programmes, making financing easier to access and placing a greater focus on climate action, social inclusion and cohesion. After the Parliament's vote it is important to keep up the momentum. Member States should follow suit quickly."
The Commission's proposal for InvestEU builds on the success of the Investment Plan for Europe – the Juncker Plan – which has already mobilised over €371 billion of investments since its launch. By providing an €38 billion EU budget guarantee to support investment, the InvestEU Fund will crowd in public and private resources to boost investment across the EU in the 2021-2027 budget period.
The InvestEU Fund is policy-driven and will support four main areas: sustainable infrastructure; research, innovation and digitisation; small and medium businesses; and social investment and skills. .
Creating jobs, boosting investment and achieving sustainable economic growth has been President Jean-Claude Juncker's number one priority since the Commission took office in November 2014. InvestEU will bring together under one roof and with a single brand all EU financial instruments currently available to support investment. This will make EU funding for investment projects simpler to access and more efficient.
Besides the InvestEU Fund, the programme will also consist of the InvestEU Advisory Hub and of the InvestEU Portal, to continue providing tailored support to project promoters as well as an easily accessible pipeline of mature projects for potential investors.
For more information
Press release: InvestEU Programme to support jobs, growth and innovation in Europe
Memo: InvestEU Programme - questions and answers
InvestEU policy package
Factsheet: What is InvestEU?
Factsheet: InvestEU - what will it finance?
Proposal for a Regulation establishing the InvestEU Programme
EU budget for the future
Follow Vice-President Katainen on Twitter: @jyrkikatainen
Follow InvestEU on Twitter: #InvestEU
Press contacts:
General public inquiries: Europe Direct by phone 00 800 67 89 10 11 or by email