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Home|The bigger picture|Strategic priorities|Investing in cohesion

Investing in regional development and cohesion

Why support for cohesion matters

Cohesion policy is a cornerstone of the European Union’s strategy to promote balanced and sustainable development across its 27 Member States. Its helps reduce economic, social, and territorial disparities by fostering growth and competitiveness, particularly in regions that are lagging behind.

Cohesion regions are often confronted with a range of challenges.

Investment needs include clean energy, innovation and skills, connectivity and social infrastructure, defence and security, resilience and preparedness for emergencies. Regional investments also support competitiveness, climate action, and cohesion through many synergies across these areas.

Support for cohesion is one of the EIF’s horizontal public policy goals.

With our focus on SME financing and expertise in building equity funding ecosystems, we are well-placed to help tackle challenges and investment gaps of EU cohesion regions. The EIF manages 100+ national mandates and invests through pan-European financial instruments.

Did you know? EU policy at work

To better target its intervention, the European Commission has divided EU regions into three categories: more developed, transition, and less developed regions. EU cohesion policy covers every region in the EU - however, most of the financial support targets regions with a GDP per capita under 75% of the EU average.

Is my region covered?

As at 31 December 2025

EIF financing in numbers

€5.64bn
in total commitments for economic and social cohesion
25.5%
backing equity investments in cohesion regions
74.5%
supporting guarantees in cohesion regions
Top 5
beneficiary countries: Spain, France, Poland, Greece, Portugal

In focus

ESIF financial instruments

Financial instruments leveraging European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) have been used for over 20 years to deliver EU cohesion policy priorities. The EIF has been working with Managing Authorities across the EU to design, develop, and deploy guarantee and equity solutions for regional and local needs - such as the JEREMIE and the SME Initiatives.

Utilising financial instruments has numerous benefits for public authorities. Thanks to their revolving nature, repaid resources can be re-used to support additional SMEs and beneficiaries, increasing the productivity and sustainability of ESIF funds. Businesses supported through ESIF showed economic viability and became a success.

JEREMIE: a success story in 14 countries

The Joint European Resources for Micro to Medium Enterprises (JEREMIE) was developed by the European Commission and the EIF, and it allowed Member States and regions to use part of their EU structural funds to improve access to finance for SMEs.

Managed through holding funds and deployed via financial intermediaries, it supported revolving instruments such as equity, guarantees and microfinance rather than grants. In 2007-2013, the EIF signed 14 JEREMIE holding funds for a total of €1.2 billion, strengthening regional entrepreneurship ecosystems.

SME Initiative: continued support across Europe

The SME Initiative was a joint European Commission and EIB Group financial instrument, managed and implemented by EIF, to improve access to finance for SMEs. By combining EU, EIB Group and European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF), it helped share risk with financial intermediaries and mobilise additional lending for small businesses.

Since its launch in 2014, it has supported over 54,000 small businesses and 554,000 jobs across Spain, Italy, Bulgaria, Romania, Malta and Finland through more than 65,000 loans - discover more below.

Success stories

EIF near me

At the EIF, we work with partners across the EU Member States and beyond to make sure that small businesses and infrastructure projects get the financial support they need. Our dedicated country pages provide a more in-depth information about performance, impact and success stories. Find out more about our local activities, financial intermediaries, and upcoming events.

More funding under institutional mandates

We are also investing in EU cohesion regions with all other resources from the EIF’s toolkit of EU programmes, such as InvestEU, and its predecessor instruments under EFSI as well as the EGF and RCR, and the EIF’s own resources. Find our more on the dedicated pages.