The Union has an agreement on a public sector credit facility

On Monday, the European Commission welcomed the political agreement between the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union (member states) on a proposal for a public sector credit facility in the region. The proposal from the European Commission's workshop concerns the Fair Transformation Mechanism and has yet to be agreed in plenary by the European Parliament and the ministers of the Member States for the new regulation to work from 2022. The first calls for proposals under this instrument should be launched in the second half of 2021. The instrument is specifically targeted at public entities and creates preferential credit conditions for projects that do not generate sufficient revenue to be financially viable. It consists of a combination of grants (€ 1.5 billion) from the EU budget and loans (€ 10 billion) from the European Investment Bank (EIB). Support in the form of grants will complement EIB loans in order to reduce the financial burden on beneficiaries and increase the attractiveness of the relevant investments. Beneficiaries will be provided with advisory support through an advisory center set up under the InvestEU Program. EU Commissioner for Cohesion and Reform Elisa Ferreira said in this context that it was a tool to help regions and communities address the challenges of climate transformation. "It will complement our set of tools to support people living in regions affected by a just transformation so that they can acquire new skills and create new businesses and jobs," she explained. According to her, reducing the costs of transformation will make it easier for the EU as a whole to meet its 2050 climate neutrality targets.