Further Information : JEREMIE
Joint European Resources for Micro to medium Enterprises (JEREMIE)
JEREMIE is an initiative of the Commission together with the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Investment Fund (EIF) in order to promote increased access to finance for the development of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises in the regions of the EU.
Improving access to finance is a priority area of the renewed Lisbon agenda for growth and jobs in an effort to increase the availability of capital in Europe for new business formation and development. Past experience has shown that this is an area where the programme authorities would like to do more, but they lack both expertise and access to risk capital. JEREMIE, by creating a framework for cooperation with the specialised financial institutions, the EIF and EIB, as well as other international financial institutions, is designed to help to overcome these difficulties.
How JEREMIE works
The first phase of JEREMIE consisted of an evaluation of the supply of financial engineering products in the Member States and regions of the Union and an assessment of potential needs. This evaluation was conducted in 2006 and 2007 in a cooperation arrangement between the Commission and the EIF, working closely with the national authorities and financial institutions at national level.
The second phase intervenes in the programming of actions for the period 2007-2013. Where management authorities wish to profit from the JEREMIE framework, they would decide to allocate resources from the programme to a holding fund. The holding fund could be a suitably qualified financial institution at national level. It is also envisaged that under the JEREMIE framework, the managing authorities can ask the EIF to ensure the holding fund tasks when the programme allocates a grant to it , which would also facilitate the levering-in of additional loan capital from the EIB.
The role of the holding fund will be to organise calls for expressions of interest addressed to all interested financial intermediaries, such as venture or seed capital funds, start-ups, technology or technology transfer funds, guarantee or mutual guarantee funds, loan funds, micro credit providers, etc. On the basis of its specific expertise, the holding fund, working closely with the managing authority, will evaluate, select and accredit financial intermediaries. It will be able to provide them with equity, loans or guarantees, as well as technical assistance as appropriate.
The selected financial intermediaries will in turn be responsible for making funds available on competitive terms to micro, small or medium sized enterprises. Special emphasis will be given to supporting the Lisbon growth and jobs agenda, by emphasising technology transfer, start-ups, technology and innovation Funds and micro credit.
The final result is that the management authority will have access to a turn-key system that will greatly facilitate the realisation of the otherwise complex task of organising more action in this important field for European economic competitiveness. As for other financial engineering instruments, contributions from the programmes to the holding fund shall be considered as eligible interim payments under the ERDF.
More information on JEREMIE can be found on the European Investment Fund website
