European leaders have clinched a deal on a new “growth pact” of measures worth some €120 billion to breathe life into floundering economies, the EU President, Mr Herman Van Rompuy, said.
“What we already agreed is ... to boost the financing of the economy by around v120 billion for immediate growth measures,” he told reporters yesterday on the first day of a two-day European Union summit.
The plan — proposed by the Euro Zone’s top four economies Germany, France, Italy and Spain — foresees a package of measures to boost output and create jobs.
The pact would redirect unspent EU funds to the most needy countries and bolster the coffers of the European Investment Bank by boosting its capital base by €10 billion.
The EIB says the capital injection would allow it to raise funds in the markets to invest €60 billion in innovation, small- and medium-sized companies and infrastructure projects.
In addition, the investment bank will launch joint “project bonds” to finance €4.5 billion worth of infrastructure programmes.