Following the suggestion of one of the readers of the Guide to Europlanning, we publish a brief look at an instrument that many people have surely heard of already, but about which perhaps few know the details: the Investment Plan for Europe, more often known as the “Juncker Plan.”
It is an initiative launched by the President of the European Commission with the same name and somewhat “sui generis” in the context of European programs (hence the choice not to include it among the “classic” programs described in detail within our Guide).
What does the Juncker Plan consist of? The starting point is very simple: to combat the effects of the global economic crisis by mobilizing useful resources and forms of support to revitalize investment in the European Union.
The modes of action of the Juncker Planare summarized in three main instruments:
- The European Fund for Strategic Investments (EuSEF ), the main pillar of the Juncker Plan. The Fund, made available from the EU budget, allows the European Investment Bank (EIB) to more easily finance high-risk business projects. Projects and organizations requesting support undergo careful selection. As explained in detail here, financing can be provided:
- directly by the EIB, through its standard loan-related procedures (specifically dedicated to promoters),
- through EIB equity participation, for which there are ad hoc instruments (dedicated to financial institutions and fund managers),
- through a specific network of financial intermediaries accredited by the EIF, European Investment Fund (present in every European country, including Italy). The latter is the reference option for small and medium-sized enterprises.
- Support activities, which in turn are divided into:
- A European Investment Advisory Hub, a single point of access to advisory and technical assistance services intended for private and public project promoters. These are services provided in a customized way and made more accessible nationally and locally through the involvement of banks and other partners;
- A European Investment Project Portal, an online platform that brings together project promoters and investors to improve the visibility of projects to investors, and with it their funding opportunities.
- “Macro” actions to improve the business environment, i.e., recommendations to be implemented at the national and EU levels, strategies and action plans at the community level, documents and other forms of support united by the goal of removing regulatory barriers to investment.
Also very interesting are the resources provided for better understanding and visibility of the actions of the Juncker plan: the collection of news, the collection of documents, the summary of results obtained from the Plan and a presentation of the “case studies” most interesting for each country, among the projects funded.The Juncker Plan is an excellent initiative to fund the innovative ideas that our area is rich with: had you heard about the opportunities offered by the Plan before? How do you plan to make use of it? Join the discussion on our Facebook page!
