Mr
European
Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker has given details of a €315bn
(£250bn;$393bn) investment plan to kick-start Europe's economy.
At the heart of his five-year agenda is a new €21bn fund,
which would be used as "seed money", to entice private backers to "pitch
in" most of the rest.
Only €8bn of the original money would come from the EU budget itself.
The project would take the burden off national governments, already facing big debts after the financial crisis.
"Europe needs a kick-start and today the Commission is providing the jump leads,"
he told the European Parliament in Strasbourg.
Critics have already suggested that the scheme is too small,
and needs far more hard cash if it is to make a major difference, the
BBC's Damian Grammaticas in Brussels reports.
However, Mr Juncker said Europe had to face "the challenge of
a generation" head-on, without a money-printing machine, describing his
plan as the greatest effort in recent EU history to trigger additional
investment without changing the rules.
Illustrating the type of projects he had in mind, Mr Juncker said he had a vision of
- Schoolchildren walking into a brand new classroom equipped with computers in the Greek city of Thessaloniki
- European hospitals saving lives with state of the art medical equipment
- French commuters charging electric cars on motorways in the same way as petrol stations were used now
- Households and companies becoming more energy efficient
Pope Francis likened Europe to a grandmother on Tuesday, "no longer fertile and vibrant"
The Commission and the European Investment Bank (EIB) would create the fund's €21bn reserve,
according to Mr Juncker,
which would then enable the EIB to fund loans worth €63bn. Private
investors would be expected to put forward the lion's share of the
money, some €252bn.
Mr Juncker's speech came a day after Pope Francis addressed
the same parliament, criticising an "elderly and haggard" Europe that
had become less and less protagonist.
Initial reaction to Mr Juncker's plan came from Chancellor
Angela Merkel, who told the German parliament that her government
supported the package in principle, but it had to be clear to everyone
where the projects were in the future.
The Commission president, who came to office at the start of
November, said he could not promise how much investment would go to each
country, but he argued that investment in one country could only be
good for growth in another.
Structural reforms were necessary to modernise Europe's
economy and fiscal responsibility was needed to restore confidence in
public finance, but now investment had to be boosted as well, he said.
The start of the former Luxembourg prime minister's term as
president has been overshadowed by his country's role in a tax break
row.
Hundreds of multi-national firms were reportedly attracted to
Luxembourg in legal tax avoidance schemes. Mr Juncker was prime
minister at the time but denies wrongdoing.
Although a vote against him is due to take place at the
European Parliament on Thursday, it is unlikely to attract widespread
support.