Investment Plan: EU invests in environmental, social, creative and housing sectors across Europe
date: 10/10/2019
The Feelsgood Fund launched on 2 October will benefit Croatian early- to growth-stage startups with an environmental and social impact. The transaction is enabled by a guarantee from the EU budget, under the Investment Plan for Europe - the Juncker Plan - and its European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI). In Romania, the European Investment Bank (EIB) agreed on 2 October to provide a €7.5m loan to help Romanian food waste management company Winnow develop software and hardware solutions to reduce food waste in professional kitchens. Swedish creative entrepreneurs will be able to borrow up to SEK 1 million (approx. €92,300) thanks to a 70% EIF loan guarantee under the Creative Europe Programme to Marginalen Bank. The EIB announced on 1 October that it has provided €200 million to support clean urban transport in Spain, in particular helping municipalities to swap their older, more polluting diesel buses for new cleaner alternatives. In a similar vein, under the Connecting Europe Facility, the EIB signed a €115 million loan on 30 September to help public transport provider RET to buy over 200 cleaner buses and renew metro and tram tracks in Rotterdam and surrounding municipalities. In Sweden, Heimstaden Bostad is to receive SEK 3 billion (approx. €300 million) EU financing for the construction of affordable and energy efficient housing.