The proposal aims to ensure the continuation of the EU guarantee for the EIB external financing for the EU multiannual budget of 2014-2020 with clearly defined objectives, such as: local private sector development, in particular support to SMEs; development of social, environmental and economic infrastructure; enhanced focus on climate change mitigation and adaptation. The effort is also made to better align the EIB financing with the Union policies.
The proposal foresees a maximum ceiling of the EIB financing operations under EU guarantee of EUR 30 billion throughout the 2014-2020 period. This maximum ceiling shall be broken down into two parts: a fixed ceiling of a maximum amount of EUR 27 billion; and an optional additional amount of EUR 3 billion. A fixed ceiling was successfully raised by the co-legislators by EUR 2 billion compared to the initial proposal. The activation in whole or in part of the optional amount and its regional distribution will be decided under ordinary legislative procedure following a mid-term review.
Lending operations under the mandate will be mostly focused on the Pre-Accession and Neighbourhood and Partnership countries.
