President of the Government receives Vice-President of the European Commission at Moncloa Palace

Moncloa Palace, Madrid

Vice-President Katainen is the European Commissioner in charge of the design and implementation of the so-called "Juncker Investment Plan", which seeks, on the one hand, to promote public-private financing for investments of European interest that effectively contribute to strengthening the competitiveness of the European economy, the creation of quality jobs and growth. This will be achieved through the creation of the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI).

On the other hand, the plan will also contribute to increasing financing for SMEs, since it doubles the financial capacity of the EIB's European Investment Fund (EIF), the instrument provided for this institution to boost credit for small- and medium-sized enterprises. The EFSI is expected to have an initial EU fund of some 21 billion euros, 16 billion in guarantees from the EU budget and 5 billion to be provided by the EIB.

Aside from that, other investors of a mainly private nature are expected to join up. In total, the European Commission expects to mobilise, with a snowball effect, up to 315 billion euros in public-private investment. Furthermore, Member States public banks are also expected to contribute to financing projects under this plan. In this regard, the Spanish Official Credit Institute (Spanish acronym: ICO) is willing to make a substantial contribution.

It should be remembered that Spain, in close collaboration with France and Portugal, plans to identify priority investment projects in electricity interconnection infrastructures and, to this end, will hold an Interconnection Summit in Madrid on 4 March between the President of the Government of Spain, the President of the French Republic, the Prime Minister of Portugal and the President of the European Commission, at which the President of the European Investment Bank and the European Commissioner for Climate Change and Energy will also take part.

The projects to be presented will also seek to increase our level of interconnections with the rest of Europe, something that is basic for guaranteeing the supply of electricity to Spanish homes at reasonable prices and for the competitiveness of our industry. These projects - which are perfectly aligned with the Juncker Investment Plan, since they are a priority for the European Union - will contribute to the creation of a single energy market, to economic growth and to competitiveness and are public-private partnership projects with a snowball effect that generate returns that can be re-invested.

In this regard, the Spanish Government will also identify priority investment projects in other sectors such as R&D+i (digital broadband and supercomputing), water infrastructures (treatment plants and irrigation systems) and the environment.