The Investment Plan for Europe comes to Greece
During his visit, the Vice-President will meet with investors, small-and medium-sized businesses, and local politicians to present the Investment Plan. He will also present the state-of-play of all three pillars of the Investment Plan at the National Parliament. Finally, Vice-President Katainen will discuss the Investment Plan and how Greece can benefit from the EFSI with Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras.
Project promoters in Greece - as in all Member States - can access the Advisory Hub for a wide range of advisory services in support of project identification, development and implementation, access to finance, the use of financial instruments, and capacity building.
The Commission will soon launch the new European Investment Project Portal for public and private promoters to advertise their projects to potential investors, a kind of matchmaking service between projects and funds. This is something the private sector asked for. So far Greece has sent in the highest number of projects to the Portal.
Vice-President Jyrki Katainen,responsible for Jobs, Growth, Investment and Competitiveness, said: “I am very pleased that the EIB has approved the first Investment Plan project in Greece. The project puts a strong emphasis on research and innovation - R&D being one of the areas where we see that the Investment Plan makes a real difference. Today I will update the government, MPs, and private sector stakeholders on the progress we have made. Greece can benefit enormously from the European Fund for Strategic Investments. Greek SMEs, via banks and financial intermediaries, as well as strategic sectors where innovation might be needed, like the food and tourism industry, can tap into the investment plan opportunities. The EIB office here in Athens is doing great work in offering technical support to help project promoters and local authorities prepare their project proposals."
Background information
About the Investment Plan for Europe
The Investment Plan focuses on removing obstacles to investment, providing visibility and technical assistance to investment projects and making smarter use of new and existing financial resources. The Investment Plan is already showing results.
So far, the European Investment Bank (EIB) has approved 57 projects for financing under the EFSI which represent a volume of financing of EUR 7.8 billion. The European Investment Fund (EIF) has approved 165 SME financing agreements, with total financing under the EFSI of EUR 3.4 billion. Some 136,000 SMEs and Midcaps are expected to benefit. Together, these operations are expected to trigger total investment of €82 billion.
Find out the latest EFSI figures including a break-down by sector and by country here. For more information see the FAQs.
About EU funds in Greece
The Commission, through its Structural Reform Support Service (SRSS), is providing support to the Greek authorities in setting up efficient and effective structures for the management of European funds in general. This should result in the design of better quality projects and thus attract private investors. In addition, EFSI financing can be combined with European Structural and Investment (ESI) Funds to allow projects to get off the ground relatively quickly.
The Commission is helping Greece to exploit fully the potential of ESI Funds, by using all the flexibility of the existing rules and providing technical assistance. For the record, a total amount of around EUR 3.5 billion of EU structural funds was paid to Greece in 2015. With an absorption rate of 99.8% while the EU average is at 90.1%, Greece ranks first in EU Member States regarding the implementation of the 2007-2013 financing period.
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-Siobhán MILLBRIGHT (+32 2 295 73 61)
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