EIB completes governance set up of European Fund for Strategic Investments

European Investment Bank (EIB) President Werner Hoyer recently appointed Wilhelm Molterer as the Managing Director and Iliyana Tsanova as the Deputy Managing Director of the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI).

The EFSI aims to overcome current market failures by addressing market gaps and mobilising private investment. It will support strategic investments in key areas such as infrastructure, education, research and innovation, as well as risk finance for small businesses.

In parallel, the EFSI Steering Board has selected eight finance experts who will form the EFSI Investment Committee as stipulated by EU law and who will take up their duty in January 2016. These measures complete the creation of the governance structures of the joint initiative which was conceived by the EIB Group and the European Commission to help overcome the current investment gap in the EU.

Wilhelm Molterer is a former Vice-President of the EIB (2011-2015), where he was responsible, among other things, for cohesion and for advisory services. Before joining the EIB, Wilhelm Molterer was a Member of the Austrian Parliament. He also served as Vice Chancellor and Finance Minister of Austria.

Iliyana Tsanova has more than twelve years of development banking experience with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), where she currently holds the position of Director responsible for EU co-financing and Financial Engineering. In 2013 and 2014, Iliyana Tsanova was appointed Deputy Prime Minister in two separate caretaker governments of Bulgaria, with special responsibility for European structural and investment funds.

The role of the Investment Committee will be to approve the use of the EU budget guarantee for projects brought to the EIB. Following an open and transparent selection procedure, the committee members appointed are:

• Ms Gillian Day (United Kingdom)
• Mr Thierry Deau (France)
• Ms Vicky D Kefalas (Greece)
• Ms Dalia Dubovske (Lithuania)
• Mr Fabio Pammolli (Italy)
• Mr Noel Gregor Paterson-Jones (United Kingdom)
• Ms Nieves Rodriguez Varela (Spain)
• Mr Dominik Radziwill (Poland)