Progress on the ‘Juncker Plan’ continues – but are Member States behind it?

The draft regulation on the Juncker Investment Plan was presented by the European Commission in January 2015 and has been discussed by the Ecofin Council on 10 March 2015. This leaves sufficient time for the European Parliament to express its views and to make the Plan operational by the summer 2015, as aimed for by President Juncker. But while governments agreed swiftly, ministers did not decide on two issues that are of importance: the eligibility of projects that have benefited from the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) and the Horizon 2020 programmes and the contributions of the national promotional banks (NPBs) to the investment plan. This commentary argues that the foreseeable engagement of NPBs remains unsatisfactory.

• Primary Source

ESO: Background information: Project financing: Council agrees negotiating stance on European fund for strategic investments http://www.europeansources.info/record/press-release-project-financing-council-agrees-negotiating-stance-on-european-fund-for-strategic-investments/

Blog: VoR, 23.03.15: A resit for EFSI http://voice.euraxess.org/archives/872

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