New institutional agreement signed with the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research to mark the Italian National Day for School Safety: new loans for a total amount of up to EUR 1.3 billion over the next three years.
Rome, 22 November 2017
New resources available for the Italian Government’s Schools Upgrading Plan 2018-2020: this is the scope of the new institutional agreement signed today, on the occasion of the Italian National Day for School Safety, by the Italian Minister of Education, University and Research (MIUR), Ms Valeria Fedeli, European Investment Bank (EIB) Vice-President, Mr Dario Scannapieco, and the Chief Business Officer of Cassa depositi e prestiti (CDP), Ms Antonella Baldino. The institutional agreement will enable the EIB to finance projects aimed at upgrading, enhancing safety and modernising pre-school, primary and secondary school infrastructure in Italy with loans of up to EUR 1.3 billion. The EIB funding will be provided to CDP which, in turn, will onlend it to the Regions responsible for the investments to be implemented at the level of Municipalities, Provinces and Metropolitan Cities. Specifically, initiatives enabling school infrastructure in Italy to be significantly upgraded, modernised and improved, whilst also aiming to prevent accidents and seismic damage, will benefit from the loans. The new institutional agreement marks a major step in the EIB’s solid cooperation with CDP and the Italian Government in the implementation of the national schools upgrading plan, which began in 2015. In the first three years alone (2005-2017), the EIB has approved financing worth more than EUR 1.4 billion, with two-thirds already allocated by CDP to over 1 500 school projects throughout the country.