Background

To achieve a coordinated approach of the financing of Urban Renewal and Development for the Programming Period 2007-2013 of the Community Structural Funds a memorandum of Understanding was signed between EC, EIB and CEB (May 2006).

Regulations

The enabling framework for JESSICA is provided by general and specific regulations, which allow Member States to use some of their Structural Fund allocations to take advantage of financial engineering mechanisms to support investment in integrated urban renewal and regeneration schemes.

All the relevant regulations can be found at the site of DG REGIO:
http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/en/funding/special-support-instruments/jessica/legislation/#2

Extra-information

To better understand the JESSICA initiative, please check the FAQ – Jessica page and the presentation slides below. We participated in many conferences and networking events related to JESSICA (JESSICA Networking Platform) or to financial instruments (the tools used to finance JESSICA initiatives). Here are some websites containing presentation slides that describe the initiative and the way financial instruments work within it:

JESSICA Networking Platform meeting presentations

Together with the Commission we have been working to create a database of JESSICA evaluation and horizontal studies. This database guides MAs towards accelerating and improving the quality of strategic investing in urban development. It currently hosts over 65 country-based evaluation and 18 horizontal studies. Projects can be searched according to 12 variables such as thematic objective, territorial context, market failure or financing options. You can access the JESSICA library by clicking here.

Previous conferences related to JESSICA and financial instruments (FIs):

• CSI-Europe towards 2014-2020: Financial Instruments for Cities (Conference, 30-31.01.2014)
  • FIs in the 2014-2020 Programming Period
  • EU Urban Agenda 2014+
  • Practicalities for designing, structuring and implementing FIs
  • 2014-2020 Ex-ante assessment
  • And many others
  • Efficient Allocation of Structural Funds for Regional and Urban Development (Conference, 27.04.2012)
    • JESSICA between Programming Cycles - managing the transition
    • EIBURS – Urban Development Funds in Europe: Opportunities, Structures, Operations
    • Financial Strategies for urban brown field development with public private partnership
    • JESSICA in Poland – an overview of the implementation
    • And many others
    • Other presentations within the EIBURS Programme of TU Dortmund and RWTH Aachen

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