Proving their unyielding commitment to stimulating the economy from the foundation up, the European Commission and the European Investment Fund (EIF) signed an agreement on 22 July that will guarantee Small & Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) in Europe access of to up to €25 billion of additional finance over the next seven years.
Thanks to the €1.3 billion allocated in the Competitiveness of Enterprises and SMEs (COSME) budget for SME financing, €25 billion will be mobilised by financial intermediaries until 2020. The agreement blazes the trail for providing equity and debt financing to SMEs, under the COSME programme, by the end of 2014. The EIF is now running an open call of interest to eligible financial institutions –banks, guarantee institutions, funds and so on – who can apply to make the new finance available to European SMEs in all sectors.
