Overview of Financial Instruments Used in the EU Multiannual Financial Framework Period 2007-2013 and the Commission’s Proposals for 2014-2020

The 2006 Interinstitutional Agreement (IIA) called for greater use of financial instruments in the European Union (EU) budget for the period of the multiannual financial framework (MFF) 2007-2013. The EU seeks to extend its budget funds through, for instance, actions financed by loans, risk-bearing or equity investment instruments, by pooling through EU Trust funds from multiple sources, through creating synergies with European Investment Bank (EIB) funds in mixed instruments for risk capital, guarantee funds, long terms loans, and with private funds and public-private partnerships (PPPs). Regular use of such instruments is innovative in the context of the EU budget, even though they have been used occasionally with EU budget funding over the past ten years. The study analyses current instruments and concludes with a brief review of expectations for the forthcoming multi-annual financial framework period, 2014 to 2020.