No European Union countries
have signed up yet to invest in the European Fund for Strategic
Investment (EFSI), the 21-billion-euro initial public fund
that's expected to generate the 315 billion euros needed for the
EU's Juncker investment plan, said EU Vice President for
investment Jyrki Katainen on Friday.
"We're talking to various countries, and we hope they'll
all participate, because they'll make the fund more powerful,
but if some of them don't want to participate we'll start
without them," Katainen said, speaking from Milan on day two of
his 28-country roadshow to promote the investment plan.
Member states have expressed concern about increased
deficit as a result of contributions to the fund, which would
put them on the wrong side of EU rules requiring balanced
budgets.
On Tuesday the European Commission said investments in the
fund would be budget neutral, meaning the Commission will not
take them into account when looking at compliance with EU budget
rules.
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