EFSI will be extended until the end of 2020. The objective will be to mobilise up to €500 billion worth of investments for projects such as infrastructure improvements, such as new rail lines.

The fund was established in 2015 for a three-year period and aimed to attract €315 billion worth of public and private investments to help boost Europe’s economy. It was proposed by Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker as a response to the drop in investments during the crisis that had left many promising but higher-risk projects struggling to attract funding.

By committing to cover a part of the losses that projects could potentially incur, the fund, managed by the European Investment Bank, has made many business ideas less risky for investors.

By November 2017 approved EFSI financing was close to €50 billion on projects set to trigger investments of more than €250 billion across Europe. Find out the numbers for each EU country in the table below:

Country Approved EFSI finance (in € million) Expected to trigger investment of (€ million) Austria 930 2,821 Belgium 1,261 5,832 Bulgaria 355 1,586 Croatia 186 741 Cyprus 45 81 Czech Republic 547 2,481 Denmark 525 1,606 Estonia 112 803 Finland 1,414 5,634 France 7,822 36,808 Germany 5,020 21,752 Greece 1,643 5,529 Hungary 73 1,229 Ireland 978 3,948 Italy 6,461 36,731 Latvia 182 615 Lithuania 324 934 Luxembourg 89 284 Malta 11 34 Netherlands 2,350 8,368 Poland 2,515 8,869 Portugal 1,893 5,450 Romania 326 1,078 Slovakia 473 1,225 Slovenia 59 490 Spain 5,156 30,812 Sweden 1,751 6256 United Kingdom 2,795 19,260 Multi-country operations 4,305 40,357 EU total 49,604 251,611

Source: European Commission (November 2017)