It is no surprise that Europe in its entirety has been facing economic upheaval. Although the instability is spread across the continent, with varying levels of economic strain, countries like Greece can simply not put off positive economic action any longer.
Getting to the root of the monetary issue sooner rather than later, the European Commission is expected to unveil €50 billion worth of infrastructure investments.
This infrastructure investment explores the proactive process of feeding money into projects in order to stimulate the economy, rather than following the same route as the US by investing money in bailing out the banks.
The fund created for the plans will be labelled the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF), which offers more insight into the plans than surface value. The idea of connectivity is crucial to this new EU plan, which involves stimulus through proactive means rather than bail outs.
The money will be split into three different sections, each relying on a fundamental basis of communication and connectivity, reconnecting Europe through growth and industry.
Due to this fact, transport infrastructure will be given the highest precedence, with the majority of the funding at € 32 billion going towards train and additional transport infrastructure projects. In a clever move, €9 billion will go towards an investment in broadband infrastructure and energy, which involves some of the world’s first smart grids, an important investment in considering the amount that can be made from selling back renewable energy.
Finally, approximately €7 billion will be invested into the high speed broadband network in order to reach 2020 European broadband goals.
Through the implementation of these industry cash injections, estimations have been made that show a generation of one million jobs over the next ten years in Germany alone, with France set to create 360,000 new positions annually.
This plan is completely multi-faceted in its potential. Not only will the work stimulate growth in industry sectors, it will offer a creation of jobs to help the EU sustain itself responsibly. In addition to this, international connectivity is increased with the foundations being laid for modern infrastructure that sees travelling through the various countries as seamless.
It is incredibly refreshing to see positive action, with international heads finally coming to the realisation that a strong industry means a strong economy.
