InvestEU to boost investment and create jobs

Today, the European Parliament and the Member States reached a deal on the new InvestEU Programme. Despite the severe cuts proposed by the EU Member States in July, the programme will mobilise more than €400 billion to boost investments and new jobs in Europe under the next long-term EU budget 2021-2027. The European Parliament had managed to increase the budget for the InvestEU Programme by €1 billion in the negotiations.

“Today's agreement leads to more investment, better jobs, more competitiveness and productivity and, at the same time, better cohesion and inclusion across Europe. InvestEU will boost investments in infrastructure, in research, in the social sector and in small and medium-sized enterprises”, stated José Manuel Fernandes MEP, who is the co-lead negotiator for the European Parliament.

InvestEU is to provide financial support in particular to small and medium-sized enterprises who didn't necessarily have any financial problems at the end of 2019 but have suffered the adverse effects of the global pandemic.

"Nonetheless, the more than €400 billion investment can only materialise if the Polish and Hungarian governments stop blocking the EU's €1.8 trillion budget and Recovery Plan agreed in November by the European Parliament and the Council Presidency", recalled Fernandes.

“InvestEU will play an essential role in the European response to the pandemic. There is no recovery without investment. The veto of Poland and Hungary also threatens this programme”, Fernandes warned.

In its previous version during the last budgetary period, the so-called European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) or ‘Juncker Plan’ helped more than one million SMEs and start-ups, creating more than 1.4 million jobs.