The European Parliament has taken an important step in finalising the governance structure of the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) by voting in favour of the EFSI Steering Board proposal to appoint Wilhelm Molterer as EFSI Managing Director and Iliyana Tsanova as Deputy Managing Director. The European Investment Bank (EIB) welcomes the vote and the swift action taken by the European Parliament.
The Managing Director and Deputy will coordinate EFSI activities within the EIB Group and support EFSI Investment Committee meetings, which the Managing Director will chair. As EIB staff members, the candidates for the two positions now require final appointment by the EIB Group President, who expects to take his decision shortly.
Wilhelm Molterer is a former Vice-President of the EIB (2011-2015), where he was responsible, among other things, for cohesion and for advisory services. Before joining the EIB, Mr Molterer was a Member of the Austrian Parliament. He has been Vice Chancellor and Finance Minister of Austria and chairman of the Austrian People's Party. Wilhelm Molterer has a degree and postgraduate qualifications in economics and social sciences from the University of Linz.
Iliyana Tsanova has over 12 years of development banking experience with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), where she currently holds the position of Director responsible for EU co-financing and Financial Engineering. In 2013 and 2014, Ms Tsanova, who holds an MSc in Finance, was appointed Deputy Prime Minister in two separate caretaker governments of Bulgaria, with special responsibility for European structural and investment funds.
The new European Fund for Strategic Investments is part of the “Investment Plan for Europe” which is based on three pillars –improving framework conditions and removing regulatory barriers to investment at national and European level; expanding advisory services for project preparation and implementation and the establishment of a pool of viable projects; and accelerating investment by kick-starting risk-taking among market players for viable investment projects.
EFSI operations will take place within the EIB and will be backed by a EUR 16 billion guarantee from the EU budget and EUR 5 billion from EIB´s own resources. The EIB Group will use the EFSI guarantee to provide catalytic, risk-bearing capacity and unlock additional financing of at least EUR 315 billion for investment in strategic infrastructure, innovation and small and medium-sized enterprises.
