EIF and the Hellenic Republic sign a Memorandum of Understanding to implement JEREMIE

JEREMIE stands for Joint European Resources for Micro to Medium Enterprises. It is a joint initiative of the European Commission with EIF and European Investment Bank (EIB) to promote SME access to finance and financial engineering products in regions.

The Ministry of Economy and Finance of the Hellenic Republic, represented by Mr. Christos Folias, Deputy Minister, and the European Investment Fund (EIF) represented by its Chief Executive, Mr. Francis Carpenter, signed today a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the general framework and implementation of JEREMIE , improving SME Access to Finance in the Hellenic Republic, in the context of the EU structural funding period 2007 - 2013.

With this MoU, the Hellenic Republic takes up a pioneering role, showing its readiness to promote and adopt a sophisticated financial engineering approach by concluding one of the first JEREMIE operations in the European Union.

In this context, it furthermore confirms its intention to appoint EIF as JEREMIE Fund Manager, responsible for the JEREMIE Holding Fund for Greece, supported by the country's ERDF allocation within the convergence and competitiveness objectives.

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

PREPARATORY PHASE (2006-07)

• Identification of most suitable instruments to allow the implementation of the Mandate (guarantees, venture capital, microfinance);
• Assist in establishing the structures and instruments suitable for the diffusion of the JEREMIE funds in Greece during the Mandate.

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 Hellenic National Strategic Reference Framework 2007 - 2013; disbursements to SMEs will be possible until the end of 2015.

EIF will work to mobilise parallel lending from EIB, to support JEREMIE in Greece and ensure close cooperation with the local financial sector.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

JEREMIE - Joint European Resources for Micro to Medium Enterprises - is a joint initiative launched by the European Commission (DG Regio) and EIF (a member of the EIB Group) to improve access to finance for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) in Europe. It enables the EU 27 Member States and the regions 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.