European Investment Bank EIB and European Commission EC
have launched in Paris on 16 September, under the French
Presidency of the European Union, a European Center of expertise on PPPs.
22 entities have already signed the agreement protocol, among
which : EIB,EC, Finance Ministers of Austria, Greece, Bulgaria, Finland, Ireland, Lithuania, The Netherlands, Slovenia, Slovakia, Ministers for Economy of Poland and Latvia, French Minister for Industry, the Danish Authority for Construction, the German Task Force for PPPs, the Technical Unit of the Presidency Council in Italy…
The objective of the Center is to reinforce the ability of public authorities in Member States to build and conduct projects on PPPs and stimulate and support the dissemination of experience and good practice.
The Center is financed by EIB (estimated budget is €4m) and will receive no fees for services to Member States and will include a team of high profile experts.
In the first phase within 2010 the Center will assist its members in drawing policies and programmes of PPPs in the field of transport and other priority sectors, and identify best practice and topics of commun interest.
To day PPPs have amounted to more than €200bn, within the
next years €100bn are foreseen to cover projects in the field of transport,education, health and environment.