Morava-Silesië is eerste Tsjechisch Gebied om van innovatieve stadsvernieuwingsinstrumenten te profiteren (en)

Today, the Regional Council of Moravia-Silesia and the European Investment Bank (EIB) have established a EUR 20 million fund to finance urban development projects in Moravia-Silesia, spearheading in the Czech Republic the deployment of EU funds via financial engineering instruments. The investment will make it possible to put urban brownfields to new use, marking a further step on Moravia-Silesia's successful path of reinventing itself as a dynamic, knowledge-based economy.

The EUR 20 million Holding Fund is focused on:

• - 

  The re-utilisation of urban brownfields

• - 

  Providing EIB assistance to Moravia-Silesia to invest EU structural funds as revolving capital

• - 

  Enhancing the economic potential and quality of city life in a highly industrial region

The Holding Fund is a fund of funds and has been created in the framework of JESSICA (Joint European Support for Sustainable Investment in City Areas), a joint initiative of the European Commission and the European Investment Bank. As part of the Regional Operational Programme for Moravia-Silesia, the Holding Fund has an initial size of EUR 20 million, comprising EUR 17 million from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and EUR 3 million of Czech national cofinancing. As opposed to the traditional use of grants, the Holding Fund will serve as a source of loans, guarantees and equity financing for integrated sustainable urban development projects. Money repaid from these projects will be available for further re-investment in the region.

The funding agreement was signed in Prague on 8 February 2010 by Matthias Kollatz-Ahnen, EIB Vice-President responsible for the JESSICA programme, and Jaroslav Palas, President of the Moravia-Silesia Region and Chairman of the Regional Council of Moravia-Silesia. The signing ceremony was also attended by the Minister for Regional Development of the Czech Republic, Rostislav Vondruška, who praised the cooperation between Moravia-Silesia and the EIB in implementing the Regional Operational Programme.

Matthias Kollatz-Ahnen, EIB Vice-President responsible for JESSICA, who, together with Jaroslav Palas, President of the Moravia-Silesia Region, signed the funding agreement, commented: " The EIB closely cooperates with the Managing Authorities of EU Structural Funds to help them develop their urban economies and urban environment in a strategic, sustainable way. I very much welcome Moravia-Silesia's contribution in this regard and I look forward to developing JESSICA in other Czech regions as well."

Given the large amount of post-industrial brownfield sites in Moravian-Silesian cities, the primary focus of the JESSICA Holding Fund will be to support the conversion of brownfields into areas ready for subsequent development for economic purposes. Other possibilities include supporting the construction or refurbishment of campus dormitories and revitalization of cultural monuments in cities.

Background notes:

The mission of the EIB, the European Union’s bank, is to contribute to the integration, balanced development and economic and social cohesion of the EU Member States by financing sound investments.

JESSICA is one of the Cohesion Policy Joint Initiatives that were developed by the European Commission to contribute to making EU Cohesion Policy more efficient and sustainable. The JESSICA mechanism is based on cooperation between the Commission, the EIB and the Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB) and supports investments in sustainable urban development and regeneration.

This initiative, designed to increase the use of financial engineering instruments, allows Managing Authorities to use some of their European Structural Funds allocations to invest in revolving funds rather than providing one-off grant financing. By so doing, the Authorities can recycle financial resources in order to enhance and accelerate investment in urban areas. These investments, which may take the form of equity, loans and/or guarantees, are delivered to projects via Urban Development Funds and, if required, Holding Funds.

Press contacts:

For further details, please contact Mr Dušan Ondreji?ka, (d.ondrejicka@eib.org,

tel.: +352-4379-83334) or visit the EIB’s website: (http://www.eib.org).