EIF and Romania sign the first Funding Agreement in the New Member States under the JEREMIE initiative

The Chief Executive of the European Investment Fund (EIF), Mr. Francis Carpenter and the Minister of Economy and Finance of Romania, Mr. Varujan Vosganian, have today signed the first Funding Agreement in the New Member States under the JEREMIE initiative.

The initial capital amount is EUR 100m, which EIF will manage on behalf of the Romanian Ministry of Economy and Finance; the funding comes from the Operational Programme ”Improvement of Economic Competitiveness” supported by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

EIF activities will include the development of new financial engineering structures and products, primarily in venture capital and guarantees, benefiting Romanian SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) and micro-enterprises.

EIF's Chief Executive, Francis Carpenter, said: “With this very important agreement, Romania takes up a pioneering role, showing its readiness to promote and adopt an innovative and efficient financial engineering approach to the financing of its SMEs and micro-enterprises. We look forward to a dynamic and fruitful cooperation in the framework of the JEREMIE initiative.”

Background information

JEREMIE - Joint European Resources for Micro to Medium Enterprises – is a joint initiative launched by the European Commission (DG Regio), EIB and EIF to improve access to finance for SMEs in the EU within Structural Funds framework for the period 2007 - 2013. JEREMIE enables the EU Member States and Regions to set-up holding funds in order to support SMEs, start-ups and micro-enterprises in a flexible and innovative way with a sustainable approach.  Holding funds will provide SMEs, through financial intermediaries, with a wide range of financial instruments like equity, venture capital, guarantees and micro-loans, together with potential leverage by EIB resources. Sustainable, tailor-made and revolving financial instruments, aiming to develop and foster the role of entrepreneurship within the EU policy are key elements of the Lisbon agenda and help the structural funding to deliver greater benefits to the market (leverage effect).

For further information, please contact Delphine Munro, d.munro@eif.org , +352 42 66 88 237, or visit www.eif.org/jeremie