fi-compass workshop supports financial instruments in the Czech Republic and in Slovakia

The fi-compass workshop ‘Implementation of financial instruments in the Czech Republic and in Slovakia’ was held on 21 and 22 May 2019 in Prague, Czech Republic. The main objectives of the event were to identify the key practical challenges and to discuss possible concrete solutions to successfully implement ESIF financial instruments in six specific sectors in the two Member States.

This fi-compass workshop was developed in cooperation with Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy (DG REGIO) as well as the Ministry of Regional Development of the Czech Republic. It brought together over 80 participants from managing authorities, National Promotional Banks and Institutions (NPBIs) and other stakeholders involved in ESIF financial instruments in the Czech Republic and in Slovakia.

Jonathan Denness, Head of the Financial Instruments and International Financial Institutions Relations Unit, DG REGIO, European Commission, encouraged participants in his welcome speech to further enhance the use of ESIF financial instruments in the Czech Republic and Slovakia in this programming period as they can an effective delivery mechanism supporting a number of sectors and areas.

In her welcome speech, Klára Droznová, Director, National Coordination Authority – Management and Coordination of EU funds department, Ministry of Regional Development, Czech Republic said:

“In the current period 2014-2020, [financial instruments] are used or planned within six out of ten operational programs. Compared to the previous period, the amount of support for projects through financial instruments will double. Ongoing negotiations for the period 2021-2027 shows that their importance will grow even more. Because of the growing importance of financial instruments, workshops such as this fi-compass event are important because they allow us to learn from each other how to correctly use financial instruments.”

During the workshop, participants discussed the use of financial instruments to support specific sectors such as energy efficiency and EPC schemes, energy efficiency in public and private buildings and SMEs, urban development (brownfield regeneration and social housing), social entrepreneurship, student loans, environment (waste and water management) and transport (infrastructure PPP, intermodal transport terminals, electric vehicle charging and green transport).

More information about the workshop and all presentations can be found here.

Press releases of the Ministry of Regional Development of the Czech Republic about the workshop in Czech language:

https://mmr.cz/cs/Ostatni/Web/Novinky/Vyznam-uveru-a-zaruk-z-fondu-EU-roste-Cesi-a-Slov

https://mmr.cz/cs/Ostatni/Web/Novinky/fi-compass-workshop-s-Evropskou-komisi-a-Evropsko