This ‘fi-compass Showcase 2019’ submission is a video story about Vranov Beach Holiday Park, a final recipient of a loan from the Expansion programme provided by Czech-Moravian Guarantee and Development Bank (ČMZRB), the national promotional bank of the Czech Republic. The Expansion programme is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). With the loan, the accommodation offer of Vranov Beach Holiday Park was widened. The three year grace period of the loan provided by ČMZRB was crucial for the final recipient to kick-off the project.

A new initiative of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development (DG AGRI) and the European Investment Bank (EIB) encouraging the use of EAFRD financial instruments by EU Member States for rural infrastructure development and smart villages was launched during the ‘Fifth annual EU conference on European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) in 2014-2020’, which took place in Romania on 4-5 June 2019.

IFISE is the short title of the ‘Innovative Financial Instruments in support of the Social Economy’, a fi-compass Multi-region assistance (MRA) project. The project brought together four regions in Spain and Italy, Andalucia, Lombardy, Piedmont and Valencia to explore the potential of financial instruments under ESI Funds to enhance social impact activities.

FI Campus 2019, which will be held in Brussels on 4-5 December 2019, has been announced. This year’s theme for the flagship event of fi-compass is ‘Looking ahead to 2021 and beyond’. FI Campus 2019 will include a number of sessions aimed at helping fi-compass stakeholders prepare for the next programming period, which starts in January 2021.

In the focus – the new CPR and InvestEU

There is a new way to stay up to date with fi-compass content. Registered fi-compass users can now choose to follow content relating to one or more European Structural and Investment Funds (ERDF/CF, ESF, EAFRD, EMFF), as well as specific Member States’ Country Data pages.

The first of a new type of fi-compass event, ‘the fi-compass Knowledge Hub’, took place on 19 June 2019. This initial pilot event was held in Brussels on the subject of ‘State aid and financial instruments to support SME competitiveness and energy efficiency’.