The fi-compass advisory platform has recently been extended to continue its awareness raising and capacity building support to promote more use of EU shared management financial instruments in the new Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF).
The extension of fi-compass was formally agreed between the European Commission and the European Investment Bank (EIB) in December 2021.
The fi-compass team in EIB Advisory Services is therefore looking forward to further developing its work with financial instruments practitioners from across Europe through publications, events, targeted coaching, podcasts and videos, addressing their capacity building and knowledge sharing needs.
A new agreement
fi-compass has also expanded its activities through a fifth work stream dedicated to financial instruments supporting migrants and refugees, with resources from the EU Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF) and others. This new work stream will be delivered together with the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Migration and Home Affairs (DG HOME) and complement the other four already existing fi-compass work streams, namely, the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+), the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) and the European Maritime Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund (EMFAF).
Peter Berkowitz, Director, Directorate General for Regional and Urban Policy commented:
“The extension of the fi-compass advisory initiative into the 2021-2027 period is an excellent example of the effective cooperation between the European Commission and the European Investment Bank. It serves our common aim to strengthen cohesion and deliver results for all stakeholders: managing authorities, national governments, public financial institutions and, most importantly, final beneficiaries - European enterprises and citizens.
The support from fi-compass has played an important role in increasing the uptake and use of financial instruments, under EU shared management programmes, in the last MFF. Finally, we warmly welcome the involvement of the Directorate General for Migration and Home Affairs in fi-compass, which will provide support to financial instruments in an additional policy area”.
Simon Barnes, Director, Advisory Services at EIB, added:
“The strong partnership between the EIB and the European Commission has proved invaluable in raising awareness of the power of financial instruments to leverage private and public sector investment in line with Cohesion objectives. This also helped to support business continuity and recovery in the wake of the pandemic, as well as unlocking additional investment opportunities in sustainable sectors like energy efficiency, renewables, innovation, urban development, agriculture, and micro and social enterprises.
Despite the extremely difficult and evolving geopolitical environment, we will continue to meet the advisory needs of managing authorities and stakeholders with a view to exploring together all possibilities for the set-up and implementation of even more financial instruments, which address the priorities of our time”.
