Do you think the Structural Funds could be used as a co-financing element within the European Fund for Strategic Investments in the future?

EFSI and ESIF are both set to play an essential role in the delivery of European policy objectives in the near future. While the rationale, design, legislative framework and timeframe for implementation of the two are quite different, there is considerable scope for maximising synergies and complementarities. ESIF is expected to join EFSI supported projects in cases where this would ensure a higher value added and bankability of EFSI support. In practice, there will be also cases where this complementarity will lead to co-investing EFSI supported resources with ESIF programme(s) support in one single project. Such combination of funding for the same investment shall not lead to duplication or overlap, and will have to bring clear demonstrable added value to and a more effective use of EU support (such as EFSI and ESIF supporting different parts of the capital structure of a project or covering different risk tranches of portfolios of SME finance). ESIF programme support may cover a portion of a project's cost and the ESIF programme contribution may come into the project in the form of either a grant (enhancing project viability) or through a financial instrument or a combination thereof. EFSI support may in turn come through a direct loan, guarantee or equity-type instrument to the project.

What should local and regional intermediaries do to encourage SME financing?future?

The participation of local and regional intermediaries for SME financing is essential for the success of the Investment Plan. While in most cases EU SMEs can obtain financing from local banks, Member State equity financing remains limited and venture capital is scarce. One specific way that local and regional intermediaries can help is to enhance cooperation and coordination with Member State commercial banks. In addition to this, another pertinent step would be encouraging Member States to set up or extend the scope of National Promotional Banks (NPBs), i.e. legal entities carrying out public development or financial activities under a state mandate. Commercial banks and NPBs could then participate in regional, sectorial or national investment platforms, which benefit from the EU Guarantee, or they may instead opt to co-finance with the EIB on a project-by-project basis.

How do you see the Investment Platforms developing and is there a role for local and regional authorities within them?

Investment Platforms could be set up as legal entities under different forms. Three different options of Investment Platforms are envisaged under the European Fund for Strategic Investments:

• regional – pooling across several Member States
• sectorial – pooling across several Member States in one sector
• national – pooling projects within the territory of a given Member State

Local and regional authorities will certainly play a key role in all of these configurations, by helping identify problematic investment gaps, addressing investment barriers on the micro level, as well as advancing smart and innovative specialisation strategies.