Madrid - The European Union is working on a plan to pump €200bn
in investment into infrastructure, green energy and high technology, Spanish
daily El Pais said on Sunday, quoting unnamed European sources.
The daily said the plan was due to be unveiled at an EU
summit in June along with options to finance it ranging from recapitalising the
European Investment Bank to issuing eurobonds, investment vehicles or setting
up a European infrastructure agency.
“If the markets allow no leeway, then we need to fall back
on imagination to return to growth policies. Institutional investors want
attractive options to be presented to them, and with the EU stamp all this
money would be channelled into European projects,” El Pais quoted an EU source
as saying.
El Pais said one option was to ask member states to
contribute €10bn in order to recapitalise the EIB, which would boost its
lending capacity by €60bn, which would in turn pave the way for €180bn in
investments.
Another alternative described in the paper was using €12bn
left over from the European Financial Stability Mechanism (EFSM) - after
bailing out Greece, Ireland and Portugal - as leverage to raise up to €200bn
from the private sector.
The €12bn remainder could also be used as “hybrid capital” for the EIB to back public-private partnerships in infrastructure spending financed by project bonds, the paper added.