Financial Instruments delivering ESI Funds

On 18 November 2015, financial instruments delivering ESI Funds were discussed at a seminar in Madrid, Spain. This seminar was part of a series of seminars which will be conducted in 25 EU Member States into 2016.

The Madrid seminar hosted over 100 people, including representatives from managing authorities as well as from the banking and consultancy sectors.

The seminar was opened with a speech by Mr. Anatolio Alonso Pardo, Deputy Director General at the Spanish Ministry of Finance and Public Administration, who gave an overview of the state of play of financial instruments in Spain in the 2014-2020 programming period. Following the opening speech, three case studies were presented, illustrating practical experience with financial instruments using ERDF and EAFRD co-financing in Spain and Romania.

The European Commission’s Directorates-General for Regional and Urban Policies (REGIO), Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion (EMPL), as well as Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (MARE) jointly presented key novelties and official guidance concerning ESIF financial instruments. This was followed by the presentation of Patricia Llopis from the European Investment Bank, who illustrated how fi-compass can help Member States to advance with financial instruments. After this fruitful morning session, the afternoon featured two parallel workshops, which focused on hands-on work following the life cycle of financial instruments with particular emphasis on the design phase. Participants actively discussed the various design aspects with local and national peers, as well as with experts from the fi-compass platform, the European Commission and the European Investment Bank.

The seminar’s presentations, discussions and workshops showed that the revolving aspect of financial instruments was well appreciated by participating stakeholders and that implementers of financial instruments in Spain can greatly benefit from guidance on how to design and set up such instruments. The three accounts of practical experience highlighted the need for close cooperation between managing authorities and their financial partners. Discussions showed that although implementing financial instruments can be complex at times, guidance, such as that provided by fi-compass, is very helpful. As a result, many of the printed fi-compass publications that were made available for participants to take with them were so popular that all the stocks were used up.