This 3-morning online course examines the mixing of EU grant funding with loan funding, guarantees and other financial instruments. In particular, we will describe how Structural Funds and the Cohesion Fund can currently be used alongside the EFSI instrument, the European Fund for Strategic Investment, or InvestEU in the next programming period.

EFSI (part of the “Juncker Plan”), working with regular EIB loans, exists to lever private funding into projects with a higher degree of risk. An EIB official will describe how EFSI works and how the funding can be accessed – how it is structured and managed, and in what circumstances can it be used. Examples from around the EU will be presented.

With the help of two highly experienced EC officials, we will examine:

• the increasing role that Financial Instruments are playing within EU Cohesion Policy
• how ESI Funds are being used in the implementation of major projects
• how Member States should approach the new InvestEU instrument and how to complete Annex V of the new draft CPR

All projects – whether grant-funded or mixed-package projects – must demonstrate a sound business case and pass a series of financial and economic viability tests. We will look at what the specific rules are for major projects now, and for substantial projects in 2021-2027.

We will use as many workshops, exercises and break-out groups as is feasible in the time we have, in order to help fix ideas and technical procedures. We will encourage the exchange of experiences from different Member States and draw together experiences from a range of sectors and of the European institutions.

Who will benefit most?

The online course will be of particular interest to those considering or planning to use EU grant and loan funding in conjunction with guarantees through EFSI or InvestEU. These include:

• policy makers, public officials from Managing Authorities and other departments
• private sector service providers
• funders and professional advisers in EU Member States, candidate countries and beyond
• academics, officials in European organisations.