Initiative from EIB for helping Western Balkans – The goal: over EUR 35 billion in investments

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The announcement says that the EIB President Werner Hoyer responded to the request made by the European Council in March and presented the way that the bank could increase the support and deal with the pressing needs of these regions, through supporting economic growth, the infrastructure vital for jobs and social cohesion.

The EIB cites that the goal of the initiative is to create more job opportunities in the EU's southern neighborhood and in the Western Balkans through stepping up support for vital infrastructure and the private sector.

- It is crucial that Europe supports countries in its neighborhood who are hosting large numbers of refugees. The EIB was set to deliver EUR 7.5 billion to these regions over the next five years. On top of this we now propose to deliver an additional EUR 6 billion of EIB lending to the public and private sectors, starting this year. This would catalyze another estimated EUR 15 billion of investment. Taken together, we are talking about more than EUR 35 billion of investments on the ground – stated Hoyer.

He said that the money could be used to finance services like clean water, energy and electricity in the regions and improve education, healthcare, local transport and urban services.