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MORE FUNDS FOR VITAL INVESTMENT IN EU’s NEIGHBOURHOOD
[01:11 pm] 07 May, 2008
The EU’s Neighbourhood Investment Facility (NIF) was
formally launched yesterday, the 6th of May, by Benita
Ferrero-Waldner, European Commissioner for External
Relations and European Neighbourhood Policy,
representatives of EU Member States and ENP[1] partner
countries. The NIF is a key instrument of the European
Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) and will mobilise
additional funding for infrastructure projects mainly
in the energy, transport and environment sectors in
the entire area of the European Neighbourhood Policy
by providing grant support for lending operations of
public European financial institutions. The Commission
has already made available 100 out of the 700
million it intends to allocate to the NIF for the
period 2007-2013. On top of this, the Facility is open
to contributions from all EU Member States so that
resources from the Community budget and of the EU
countries and public financial institutions will be
pooled and better streamlined for the benefit of
partner countries. Germany (10 million), Italy (1
million) and Sweden (1 million) plan to allocate
funds to the NIF in 2008; others Member States are
expected to announce their contributions shortly.
Benita Ferrero-Waldner said: "With this Investment
Facility we will not only promote the construction of
transport and energy infrastructure interconnections
between the EU and our neighbours but we will also
address common environmental challenges such as the
use of renewable energy and the de-pollution of
Mediterranean and Black Seas. Concrete projects
financed under this facility will bring tangible
benefits to citizens of the neighbouring countries and
the Union alike and will bring our partners closer to
the EU.’ And she added: "The NIF is a truly European
initiative. I welcome the first contributions from
Germany, Italy and Sweden to the NIF and encourage
other Member States to use this tool for channelling
their support to key investment in our immediate
neighbourhood."
Although the NIF will concentrate on the energy,
transport and environment sectors, its support may
also be provided for SME development and to social
sector projects. It is expected that the Facility will
generate up to 5-6 billion of lending.
Geographically NIF operations will focus on countries
with ENP Action Plans agreed with the EU, namely
Armenia, Azerbaijan, Egypt, Georgia, Jordan, Lebanon,
Moldova, Morocco, the occupied Palestinian territory,
Tunisia and Ukraine[2]. Moreover, on a case by case
basis, the other Neighbourhood countries may also
profit from NIF grant support for projects of cross
border or regional nature to which the EU and its
neighbouring partners attach particular interest.