Michel Thiers is the CEO of Zotcar (zot meaning 'your' or 'yours' in Creole), a digital and collaborative car rental solution created in 2016. In June 2019, the startup benefitted from EUR 540 650 equity investment from Essor PME La Réunion, an ERDF financial instrument set up by La Réunion region. The company will use the investment to strengthen its R&D and operational team, acquire additional equipment, as well as replicate its economic model outside La Réunion.

Support from an ERDF financial instrument has helped an Italian social cooperative in Emilia-Romagna cut its heating bills by 25% in a year, allowing it to spend more energy on people.

How do we replace fossil fuels? That is the big question. While intermittent renewables like solar and wind, when paired with batteries, are a popular fossil fuel alternative, the energy from the Earth's super-heated core is still largely untapped. So far, Iceland has been the only country to develop geothermal energy properly. This is quickly changing!

The COVID-19 pandemic is clearly already having a significant impact on everybody’s daily life. We send our best wishes to all our stakeholders and their families at this difficult time, and particularly in some of the worst hit areas of Europe. On the positive side, we already notice the spirit of solidarity shining through, bringing communities and people together in new ways, and in response to the physical constraints we face.

The State aid Temporary Framework adopted by the European Commission on 19 March in response to the COVID-19 outbreak has been extended to provide a number of additional flexibilities.

As part of the Coronavirus Response Investment Initiative (CRII), the Common Provisions Regulation 1303/2013 (CPR) has been amended to enable European Structural Investment Funds to be mobilised by Member States to respond to the outbreak.

The European Commission has adopted legislation to introduce a temporary framework to enable Member States to use the full flexibility foreseen under State aid rules to support the economy in the context of the COVID-19 outbreak.

The Temporary Framework includes a number of flexibilities that could be used to scale up and enhance existing ESIF financial instruments and/or set up new schemes to support EU businesses. These include amongst other things:

A new report has been published on the fi-compass website, which presents an analysis of the financing gaps and market failures relating to SME financing in each EU Member State. The report shows how, following the success of ESIF financial instruments in this sector during the 2014-2020 period, significant financing gaps nevertheless remain in all Member States for both debt and equity finance for businesses.