Cornerstone of the Commission's Investment Plan – European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI)

Briefing 17-06-2015

In its November 2014 Investment Plan for Europe, the Commission announced the establishment of a new European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), to bridge the EU investment gap. EFSI would be financed by an initial €21 billion: €16 billion from the EU budget in the form of a guarantee to the European Investment Bank (EIB), and €5 billion from the EIB’s own resources. Through a multiplier effect estimated at 15:1, a total of at least €315 billion would be mobilised in additional investment over the next three years. The EU guarantee for EFSI will, in part, be financed through cuts in the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) and the Horizon 2020 programme, as well as from the unused margins in the EU's annual budget. In their joint report, the European Parliament's Economic and Monetary Affairs and Budgets Committees backed the plan, but opposed the planned cuts in CEF and Horizon 2020, and called for extended parliamentary control over EFSI's governance as well as over the project selection criteria. In a trilogue meeting on 28 May 2015, the Parliament and Council reached a compromise agreement on the proposed EFSI regulation. Under this agreement, the cuts in the budgets of CEF and the Horizon 2020 programme would be reduced.