Press Release: €100 million EU micro-finance facility to help unemployed start small businesses

On 2 July, 2009, the European Commission proposed to set up a new microfinance facility providing microcredit to small businesses and to people who have lost their jobs and want to start their own small businesses. It will have an initial budget of €100 million, which could leverage more than €500 million in a joint initiative with international financial institutions, in particular the European Investment Bank (EIB) Group. The new facility was one of the actions announced in the Commission's communication: 'A Shared commitment for employment' on 3 June.