On 13th January 2015 the European Commission (EC) adopted the legislative proposal to put in place the EFSI, which is at the very heart of President Juncker’s €315 billion Investment Offensive. This follows its formal launch in November and an indicative and non-exhaustive list of projects which could be considered for this purpose.
Additionally, more details and some clarifications have been released. It is worth highlighting that renewable energy and energy efficiency are considered top priorities. More importantly, compared to traditional loans by the EIB, the EFSI aims to take uncertainty out (first loss protection) of viable projects and is addressed to “riskier projects”, meaning the EIB (co-managing the fund) is “allowed” to take the risk. Please also note that a cluster of projects and local programmes for energy efficiency and small scale installations can be financed as well.