OREANDA-NEWS. The European Commission's partner in the Investment Plan, the European Investment Bank, approved yesterday eight more projects for a financing volume of 9.3 billion euro. This takes the total of approved investment projects to 64 and already achieves almost a third of the targeted 315 billion euro investments over three years.

The new projects at the heart of the Juncker Commission's flagship Investment Plan for Europe are in strategic areas such as research and development, energy efficiency and digital technology and now span 26 Member States.

European Commission Vice-President Jyrki Katainen, responsible for Jobs, Growth, Investment and Competitiveness, said: "Today's news shows this Commission means business. Together with our partner the EIB, we are delivering on our Investment Plan: less than a year into its existence, the European Fund for Strategic Investment has triggered more than 100 billion euros of total investment in the EU. We are keeping the promise to put Europeans back into jobs and help the European recovery."