Small
and medium sized enterprises that have financial difficulties and Romanian
students who want to continue their studies abroad will be granted over 170 million euros in European funds. The European
Investment Fund (EIF) signed four agreements with four banks in Romania on
Wednesday.
These are in fact guarantee funds, with the
EIF assuming part of the risk. The EIF and a non-banking
financial institution FINS signed the first Erasmus+ guarantee agreement in
Romania, enabling FINS to offer a new loan product to Master’s students who
would like to study abroad.
Thanks to the guarantee,
about 450 students will be able to get more favourable conditions when they
apply for a loan to study in another EU country, Iceland, Liechtenstein, North
Macedonia, Norway or Turkey. The 4.5-million euro agreement comes under the
Erasmus Plus loan guarantee scheme financed by the European Union and managed
by the European Investment Fund.
The head of the European
Commission Delegation in Bucharest, Angela Cristea, who attended the ceremony
of signing the agreements,
believes the Romanians’ fears towards the EU come in fact from the fear of the
unknown and the best way to overcome it is the direct contact with other
European societies.
Angela Cristea: The more the
programs helping European citizens to go and live for a while in another
country, the more tolerant and open our societies will be. This is exactly what
we want, especially at this time when the future of the European Union is being
decided. That is why, these accords, which apparently are more or less common
financial operations, have in fact a much higher stake.
The European Fund for
Strategic Investments (EFSI) is the heart of the Investment Plan for Europe,
known as the Juncker Plan. According to Angela Cristea, the plan initially
worked better in developed economies, where financial tools are no longer a
challenge, but is also working in Romania, where 29 projects financed under
this plan are already underway.
16 of them are large
infrastructure programs and 13 are programs that enhance the SMEs’ access to
financing instruments. Cristea has also said that based on the accords signed
on Wednesday, some 3 thousand SMEs will be supported to get access to
financing. The support consists in covering some of the risks taken by the
banks when they approve a loan for SMEs.