German ambivalence on contributions to EC’s €31bn investment fund

in Brussels

German finance minister Wolfgang Schäuble has said Germany is not keen on national governments contributing to the European Commission's landmark €315 billion investment fund, despite assurances earlier this month that investments by governments would not be counted towards EU budgetary targets.

“We are not in favour of national government contributions to the fund,” Mr Schäuble told his European counterparts at the Ecofin meeting of EU finance ministers yesterday in Brussels.

Fund of €21 billion

The EU investment fund announced by the Jean-Claude Juncker commission in November is structured around €21 billion in core EU money, which will then be leveraged to attract private investment worth 15 times that amount. The commission had also invited national governments to contribute to the fund, and earlier this month moved to clarify that such investments would be excluded in debt and deficit calculations.

March accord

About 2,000 projects have been submitted by governments for consideration by the fund, known as the European Fund for Strategic Investment. On Tuesday in Brussels,

Latvia

said it plans to reach an agreement by March, to allow investments begin by mid-2015.

EU leaders are expected to return to the investment project at the June European Council summit. "The deadline set by the European Council is ambitious, but we are confident of being able to meet it," the Latvian finance minister Janis Reirs said. EU vice-commissioner Jyrki Katainen has been meeting potential investors in recent weeks.

But Dutch finance minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem raised questions about the fund's structure. A number of eastern European countries raised concerns EU state-aid rules could cause problems.