The European Investment Bank (EIB) is assisting the Madrid Region in its efforts to tackle the COVID-19 health emergency. The EU bank is providing a EUR 600 million loan on favourable terms to enable the authorities to adapt Madrid’s health facilities and cope with the additional health costs caused by the pandemic.

The EU bank funding will help the Madrid Region to continue adapting hospitals and other health centres to increase the capacity of their primary care facilities, intensive care units and emergency services. At the same time, it will finance the extraordinary operating expenditure caused by the pandemic, guaranteeing resources to ensure the availability of medical supplies and payment of additional salary costs stemming from the increase in healthcare staff. The EIB funding will also enable the Madrid Region to acquire more personal protective equipment and more resources to diagnose and treat the disease. Part of the funding will be used to boost the COVID-19 research carried out by local teams.

Welcoming the agreement, EIB Vice-President Emma Navarro, who is responsible for the Bank’s activity in Spain, said: “We are very pleased to be supporting the Madrid Region in its bid to strengthen its health capacity in the face of this emergency. The EU bank is one of the key instruments in Europe’s response to COVID-19, and we shall spare no efforts to fight the pandemic and alleviate its economic impact. We shall carry on working to help Spain bounce back from this crisis as quickly as possible”.

The Madrid Region’s Economy Minister, Javier Fernández-Lasquetty, thanked the EIB for its support, saying that “the Madrid Region is facing the worst health crisis in its history, and this requires an extraordinary budgetary effort as it is the autonomous regions that are waging this battle in the hospitals: to fight COVID-19 together, we need to be backed up by financial support”.

The EIB’s response to the COVID-19 crisis

The ElB Group is playing a key role in combating the COVID-19 crisis head-on, supporting European efforts to stop the spread of the pandemic, find a cure for the disease and develop a vaccine. Accordingly, the EU bank is giving priority to all investments relating to the health sector and R&D programmes focused on this goal. The EIB’s portfolio of projects supporting critical health facilities and R&D investment in the health sector in the EU currently amounts to some EUR 5 billion. In addition, the EIB and the World Health Organization recently signed an agreement to boost cooperation between the two institutions, working together to strengthen public health systems in countries most vulnerable to the pandemic.

To tackle the economic impact of the pandemic in Europe, and following the Eurogroup’s recommendation of 9 April, on 16 April the Bank’s Board of Directors endorsed the creation of a EUR 25 billion pan-European COVID-19 guarantee fund. It is estimated that this fund will enable the EIB Group to leverage up to EUR 200 billion of additional financing largely targeting SMEs.

At the same time, the EIB Group is refocusing its activity to meet the financing needs caused by the COVID-19 crisis and provide immediate help to European firms. In March it announced a set of emergency measures with this aim. In this first response package, the European Investment Fund, the EIB Group subsidiary specialising in supporting small businesses, is providing dedicated EU-backed guarantees to financial intermediaries that will help to mobilise up to EUR 8 billion worth of finance. For its part, the EIB is adapting the existing joint financial instruments with the European Commission to deliver up to EUR 20 billion of additional finance for European SMEs and mid-caps.

In addition, the EIB has adopted extraordinary measures to speed up its procedures and relax its internal policies with the aim, amongst other things, of deploying its support as quickly as possible and financing costs that it would not finance in normal circumstances, such as the current expenditure of European firms. Today’s agreement with ICO to support Spanish SMEs and mid-caps is an example of this strategy.

Find out more about the proposed EIB and EIF support

May 20, 2020 About the EUIPO

EUIPO’s Service Charter shows positive results in the first quarter 2020

Despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Office has been able to comply with its timeliness, quality and accessibility commitments during the first quarter of 2020. Certain timeliness indicators have also improved during this period, namely the EU trade mark direct filings and registered Community designs registration. Only the timeliness in cancellation decisions still remains in ‘Actions Needed’

New timeliness indicator in recordals

The new EU trade mark and registered Community design timeliness indicator for recordals measures several types of recordals, like Change of name/Representative, Transfers (EUTM/RCD), Corrections (EUTM/RCD) and Seniority (EUTM). These recordals represent approximately 85 % of all the recordals the Office receives. As this indicator has been included in the Service Charter as from 2020, the previous figures have been calculated using 2020 parameters to illustrate the evolution.

What is the EUIPO’s Service Charter?
The Service Charter underpins all the Office’s quality activities and represents the EUIPO commitment to its users. The Service Charter sets out what users can expect from the Office in three core areas:

• Timeliness, or how long it takes to deliver a service;
• Accessibility, or how well and quickly the Office makes services available to users by phone, email and through e-business applications;
• Quality of decisions, or how EUIPO decisions measure up against agreed quality criteria.

More information

Extinct species in Europe

According to IUCN, 36 species have become extinct in Europe as of 2015, including many freshwater fish, several other Coregonus species (a type of salmon), the freshwater mollusc Graecoanatolica macedonica (a small freshwater snail unique to Lake Dojran in Macedonia), and Pensée de Cry, a purple flower.

From the mammals, Aurochs (a type of large wild cattle) and the Sardinian Pika (a cousin of the rabbit) went extinct in the 17th and 18th century respectively.

Further research is needed to assess the situation, in particular of bees, marine mammals and fish.

The EU is adapting certain rules for different transport sectors to help companies and authorities cope in the extraordinary circumstances created by the coronavirus crisis. Today, the Council adopted temporary measures enabling the extension of the validity of certain certificates and licences in road, rail and waterborne transport, and relaxing the rules on charging ships for the use of port infrastructures.

Enabling the extension of the validity of licences and certificates will provide the flexibility and legal certainty needed to maintain our supply chains and ensure continued mobility by road, rail, sea and inland waterways, while safeguarding safety and security. The possibility of waiving port infrastructure charges will help mitigate the serious negative impact of the crisis on the shipping sector.

Oleg Butković, Croatian Minister for the Sea, Transport and Infrastructure, President of the Council

The regulation enabling the extension of the validity of certificates and licences will support those transport operators, individuals and national administrations that, owing to the coronavirus restrictions, are having difficulties fulfilling certain administrative formalities before the expiry of the relevant deadlines. This applies for instance to driving licences, roadworthiness tests for motor vehicles and boat-masters’ certificates.

Certain periodic checks in the road, rail, inland navigation and shipping sectors will also be postponed temporarily, as they may not be feasible in current circumstances.

The text takes into account the fact that, given the differences in the spread of the pandemic throughout Europe, some member states are able to continue to deliver specific licences or certificates, while others find it difficult or impossible to do so. However, even if a country continues to issue licences itself, it will need to accept licences originating in another member state which has used the possibility of extending their validity. This will help ensure the smooth functioning of the internal market and continued cross-border activities.

The amendment to the port services regulation will contribute to the financial sustainability of ship operators in the context of the pandemic by providing flexibility to the existing rule that requires member states to ensure that a port infrastructure charge is levied. The amendment will give ports the possibility to waive, suspend, reduce or defer the charges for port users due between 1 March 2020 and 31 October 2020.

The Council’s vote on the two regulations was taken using a written procedure, which was concluded today. The European Parliament voted on 15 May 2020.

Both legal acts will enter into force the day after they are published in the EU Official Journal, which is expected to take place next week.

The legislative process is still ongoing for the other two proposals in the transport emergency package presented by the Commission on 29 April 2020, which concern aviation and the fourth railway package.