Last week COREPER approved, on behalf of the Council, the compromise agreement on the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI). The compromise was reached with the European Parliament at the end of May and informally endorsed by the negotiators on 4 June. EFSI is the key part of Jean-Claude Juncker´s investment offensive into the European economy which he promised when he was elected President of the European Commission last summer. The fund will be established in the European Investment Bank, the EU will provide €16 billion in guarantees, while the EIB will provide €5 billion. The €21 billion should unlock some €300 billion in both private and public investments during a period of 3 years. The fund will be managed by a steering board and projects to be supported will be chosen by an independent investment committee. The EU´s contribution of €16 billion will be covered by €8 billion redirected from the Horizon 2020 and from the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF), together with unspent money from previous EU annual budgets. The Council and the MEPs attributed more money from the unspent funds in order to save as much as possible for the original purposes of Horizon 2020 and CEF. The compromise text will now be adopted by the EP plenary on 24 June. The final endorsement by the Council in the ministers format will come shortly afterwards.

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