The EU will this week launch plans to invest €50bn (£44bn) in modernising digital, energy and transport networks, creating hundreds of thousands of jobs over the next few years. The European commission scheme envisages the use of bonds backed by the European Investment Bank (EIB) to fill funding gaps left by cash-strapped governments and leverage up private investment. The plans, due to be revealed on Wednesday, are designed to pay back taxpayers for the aid and guarantees of €4.6tn given to the financial sector in the past three years. Despite this taxpayer funded support, venture capital investments in Europe slumped last year to just €3bn. EIB president Philippe Maystadt said: "Infrastructure finance in Europe has suffered since the financial crisis and banks face new constraints on long term lending. Project bonds could be a way to attract capital from other investors, such as pension funds and insurance companies, and be a useful addition to traditional financing options." The EC says developing smart infrastructure could require up to €1.5-2tn for trans-European transport networks, the energy sector and information and communication technologies. That equates to the putative size of the eurozone bailout fund discussed by G20 finance ministers at the weekend. The bulk of the funds to be announced this week (around €32bn) would go to transport infrastructure projects, with €9bn each earmarked for energy, including smart grids, and for broadband infrastructure and digital public services. Kroes said the money would be largely in the form of equity, debt or guarantees provided by the EU and EIB, thus improving the credit rating of projects. These would be proposed not only by telecoms operators but water and electricity utilities, co-ops or construction firms.
Access Investments-Building Awareness - European Union-ROMANIA
Sunday, October 16, 2011
The EU will this week launch plans to invest €50bn (£44bn) in modernising digital, energy and transport networks, creating hundreds of thousands of jobs over the next few years. The European commission scheme envisages the use of bonds backed by the European Investment Bank (EIB) to fill funding gaps left by cash-strapped governments and leverage up private investment. The plans, due to be revealed on Wednesday, are designed to pay back taxpayers for the aid and guarantees of €4.6tn given to the financial sector in the past three years. Despite this taxpayer funded support, venture capital investments in Europe slumped last year to just €3bn. EIB president Philippe Maystadt said: "Infrastructure finance in Europe has suffered since the financial crisis and banks face new constraints on long term lending. Project bonds could be a way to attract capital from other investors, such as pension funds and insurance companies, and be a useful addition to traditional financing options." The EC says developing smart infrastructure could require up to €1.5-2tn for trans-European transport networks, the energy sector and information and communication technologies. That equates to the putative size of the eurozone bailout fund discussed by G20 finance ministers at the weekend. The bulk of the funds to be announced this week (around €32bn) would go to transport infrastructure projects, with €9bn each earmarked for energy, including smart grids, and for broadband infrastructure and digital public services. Kroes said the money would be largely in the form of equity, debt or guarantees provided by the EU and EIB, thus improving the credit rating of projects. These would be proposed not only by telecoms operators but water and electricity utilities, co-ops or construction firms.
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useless ....useless ....useless ....useless ....Kroes said the money would be largely in the form of equity, debt or guarantees provided by the EU and EIB, thus improving the credit rating of projects. These would be proposed not only by telecoms operators but water and electricity utilities, co-ops or construction firms.
The aim, her officials said, is to support investment in less obviously attractive broadband infrastructure projects such as those in remote rural areas.
The EU estimates that €270bn needs to be invested to meet its 2020 target of broadband at 30 megabits a second for all Europeans and 100Mbps for half of them.
The EC estimates that the roll-out of high-speed broadband networks in Germany alone would create 1m jobs between now and 2020 while French plans for a fibre-to-the-home network could generate 360,000 jobs a year.
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