Publications on EU funds

European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) represent significant investments in the EU’s physical infrastructure and the development of human potential, helping to increase the continent's economic, social and territorial cohesion, including the environmental integrity of its natural environment.

This briefing gives an overview of the legal background and the guiding principles for applying project selection criteria during the implementation phase of EU funds, illustrated by a number of case studies and examples from different countries.

The first four projects that the European Investment Bank announced for financing under President Juncker’s EUR 315 billion investment initiative, the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), reveal the structural inconsistencies of both the EFSI legal set-up and the EIB procedures themselves. For the time being there is no genuine guarantee about the additionality of EFSI financing and added-value to EU’s long-term economic development objectives, in particular the multiple dividends of a decarbonised and decentralised energy system with substantial energy savings at its heart.

The European Semester should be further developed to become an effective governance and enforcement mechanism that can ensure coherence between national fiscal policies and overarching sustainable development objectives. To this extent national Environmental Fiscal Reforms (EFR) should be accelerated via the European Semester and Member States national public spending and investment plans should be checked against their delivery on sustainable development.