The European Commission’s ‘Investment Plan for Europe’ aims to mobilise €315bn in investment to boost jobs and growth.
The European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) – the main component of the Plan – is due to start operations in September. It aims to ‘mobilise investment primarily in strategic infrastructure, SMEs and mid-cap companies’. But the Plan has faced criticism that it is, at least partly, ‘recycling and relabelling’ existing EU programmes.
Meanwhile, one of the pillars of the new Digital Single Market strategy is high-speed, secure and trustworthy infrastructure, supported by the right regulatory conditions for innovation and investment.
As the EFSI gets to work, EurActiv organised a stakeholder workshop with the support of Aviva to discuss:
Is the Plan sufficient in scale and scope to make a tangible difference to the EU economy?
How can the Plan support investment in digital infrastructure such as broadband?
How should projects be selected for funding?
