InvestEU

10.28 billion (including 6.07 from NGEU)

Mobilization of public and private financing (loans, guarantees, and other instruments)

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DG / Responsible Agencies: ECFIN | EIB

Potential beneficiaries

Public and private investors and project promoters, small and medium-sized enterprises and mid-cap enterprises, financial and microfinance service providers and their recipients.

Description and objectives

The InvestEU program accompanies the EU’s major objectives (fighting the crisis, sustainable and inclusive growth, improving global competitiveness, socioeconomic cohesion, digital and green transitions) by making more investment available to economic actors, through diversified forms and operators.

The program uses EU funds as a catalyst to attract various forms of private investment, leveraging their “leverage effect” and innovative financial products for the benefit of companies working on projects with high community value added, in complementarity with investments made at the member state level.

EU intervention can add value particularly when a project:

• It is not attractive to private investment because it is public good in nature (produces benefits only in the long term, or benefits that cannot be acquired by private agents);
• It has a high level of risk for private investors because it is cross-border in nature or operates in sectors or areas considered risky;
• It requires a “critical mass” of initial resources to be used to maximize the impact of the investment.

The most typical areas in which InvestEU intervenes are in the areas of innovation, digitization, efficient use of resources, infrastructure and skills upgrading. It is necessary for InvestEU-funded projects to make a significant impact in terms of:

• competitiveness, research, innovation and digitalization;
• employment and growth, social development, and environmental and climate sustainability;
• Social resilience, inclusiveness and innovativeness;
• Promotion of scientific and technological progress, culture, education and training;
• Integration of the Union’s capital markets and strengthening of the single market, diversification of financing sources for businesses and promotion of sustainable finance;
• Promotion of economic, social and territorial cohesion;
• sustainable and inclusive recovery after the Covid-19 crisis, supporting and strengthening the Union’s value chains on strategically important activities.

Types of actions and projects

The InvestEU fund provides an EU guarantee to support financing and investment operations. Funds are allocated through the European Investment Bank and other implementing partners. Implementing partners and other financial intermediaries in turn provide financing in the form of guarantees, loans, grants, or forms of risk-sharing and equity participation.

Projects, both public and private, must be economically viable, in areas where there are market failures or investment gaps, in four main areas:

• sustainable infrastructure;
• research, innovation and digitalization;
• competitiveness of SMEs and small and mid-cap enterprises;
• social investment, investment in skills and capacity (in itself and to promote the strengthening of the social investment market and microfinance/social enterprise finance).

In addition, the InvestEU advisory hub provides advisory support for investible project development and access to finance; the InvestEU portal increases project visibility among a wide network of international investors.

Highlights

InvestEU is the successor to the Investment Plan for Europe. Consolidates nearly 30 financial instruments, budget guarantees, and advisory initiatives under the 2014-2020 programming in various policy areas, particularly in infrastructure, research and innovation, SMEs, and social policy.