EIF and the Slovak Republic sign the first Memorandum of Understanding under the JEREMIE mandate

The Ministry of Finance of the Slovak Republic, represented by Mr. Vladimir Tvaroska, State Secretary, and the Chief Executive of European Investment Fund (EIF), Mr. Francis Carpenter, have signed today a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the general framework and implementation of JEREMIE (Joint European Resources for Micro to Medium Enterprises), improving SME Access to Finance in the Slovak Republic, in the context of the EU structural funding period 2007 - 2013.

With this MoU, the Slovak Republic takes up a pioneering role, showing its readiness to promote and adopt a sophisticated financial engineering approach by concluding the first JEREMIE operation in the EU. In this context, it furthermore confirms its intention to formally appoint EIF as the sole JEREMIE Fund Manager, responsible for the JEREMIE Holding Fund of the Slovak Republic, which could represent approximately 10% of the country's ERDF allocation within the convergence and competitiveness objectives.

In general, the overall cooperation between the Slovak Authorities and EIF shall include the following tasks for EIF:

Preparatory Phase (2006-2007)

• Operational Technical Opinion on the financially engineered products and direct lending schemes as a basis for the implementation of the JEREMIE Holding Fund Mandate, in cooperation with the European Commission (DG Regio);
• Agreement on and implementation of products and structures to allow the implementation of the Mandate (guarantees, venture capital, microfinance);
• Separate Technical Assistance Agreement to be signed to assist in establishing the structures and instruments suitable for the diffusion of the JEREMIE funds in the Slovak Republic during the Mandate implementation.

Implementation Phase (2007 - 2015)

• As Holding Fund Manager: implementation and management of SME and micro-finance actions covered by the Mandate, as identified during the preparatory phase and outlined in the Slovak National Strategic Reference Framework 2007 - 2013; disbursements to SMEs will be possible until the end of 2015.

EIF will make efforts to mobilise parallel lending from EIB, EIF and other International Financial Institutions to support JEREMIE in Slovakia and ensure close cooperation with the local financial sectors. EIF's involvement also implies the setting up of an EIF representation in Bratislava.
EIF's Chief Executive, Francis Carpenter, said: The Slovak Republic is a model case in Central and Eastern Europe to create financial products that are focussed on redressing gaps in SME finance in the framework of the JEREMIE initiative. We are looking forward to a dynamic and fruitful cooperation.

Background information

JEREMIE - Joint European Resources for Micro to Medium Enterprises - is a joint initiative launched by the European Commission, the European Investment Bank (EIB) and EIF to improve access to finance for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) in Europe. It enables the EU Member States/regions and Acceding Countries to use part of their structural funds allocations (ERDF - European Regional Development Fund 2007-2013) to support start-ups and micro-enterprises through loans, equity, venture capital and guarantees together with EIB Group. Sustainable, tailor-made and revolving financial instruments, aiming to develop and foster the role of entrepreneurship within the EU support are key elements of the Lisbon agenda and help the structural funding to deliver greater benefits to the market.