InvestEU in Italy: European Commission and Cassa Depositi e Prestiti sign €6.7 million Advisory Agreement to support infrastructure projects
Today, the European Commission and the Italian national promotional institution Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP) signed a €6.7 million agreement to provide advisory support to infrastructure and social investment projects. This is the first such agreement signed with a national promotional bank or institution under the Commission’s new InvestEU programme, with more agreements to follow.
Under the agreement, CDP in its role as advisory partner under the InvestEU Advisory Hub will provide project advisory, market development and capacity building support to project promoters and financial intermediaries in Italy. The total support for the provision of advisory services under this agreement will amount to €6.7 million, of which €5 million comes from the EU budget and €1.7 million is CDP’s own contribution.
The advisory support to be provided by CDP will contribute to the development of improved quality investment projects, including under the InvestEU “Sustainable Infrastructure Window” and “Social Investment and Skills Window”. This will help to improve access to finance and investments in infrastructure development, attract private resources and strengthen the capacity of public and private project promoters to develop financing and investment operations in the areas of social and public infrastructure, sustainable energy, transport as well as digital and innovative infrastructure.
Commissioner for the Economy, Paolo Gentiloni, said: “Signing this agreement today with Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, the first national promotional bank to become an advisory partner under InvestEU, is an important milestone in the rollout of the programme across the EU. With Cassa Depositi e Prestiti as a local partner, we will provide targeted advisory services to help plan and implement important investments in public and social infrastructure and sustainable development. I am looking forward to seeing many more such agreements with local advisory partners across the EU.”
CEO and General Manager of CDP, Dario Scannapieco, said: “With InvestEU, in the next few years Europe will resume the path started with the pioneering Investment Plan for Europe, which for the first time seven years ago had placed the accent on investments and growth. The agreement signed today represents a new stage and a relaunch of the dialogue between CDP and the European institutions in order to facilitate synergies. We are proud to join the European Commission in order to help stimulate a robust and lasting growth of our economic, social and environmental system”, commented the CEO and General Manager of CDP.”