Politicians are deeply aware that management of the crisis is necessary to create the conditions for work and new jobs. To achieve the latter, we need sources of finance and new investments.
The solution, i.e. how to access them, is in the new EU financial perspective, which we discussed this week in the European Parliament. It is important that we look at resources available today. A good example is France, which despite the crisis, has invested in new high-speed railways; 15 billion euro worth of investment capital from different sources, partly in project bonds and also public-private partnerships. 15 billion euro is almost twice the size of Slovenia’s yearly budget.
In the next financial framework, companies can seek opportunities through various funds. The Cohesion Fund is worth 370 billion euro, as is the agricultural fund. The latter will have many opportunities for shifting towards the production of healthy food. Horizon 2020 is a program for small and medium sized enterprises and development institutions, which cuts across all innovation that will be capable of knowledge transfer from institutes into practice. It is therefore certain that the classic way of funding research will diminish and be replaced with an increased focus on projects that have the potential for success in practice. Of the 80 billion euros, which will be available in Horizon 2020, there is also a great opportunity opening up for Slovenia. However, the question arises, do we even have enough researchers and enough innovative companies to put this into practice. Of course, we will have to be able to look outwards as well, to those countries where the market is even more demanding than in Europe.
To this end, I am leaving next week for India with a delegation of the European Parliament, where we will discuss protection of the planet, attitudes towards health and the environment, and untapped business opportunities. Untapped between Europe and India, and also other countries. There isn’t much choice; it is difficult to turn towards the outside as it is easier to work from and be at home. However, we will be forced by circumstances to look outside, where it is seems impossible. It entirely depends on us, if we will be able to use the resources and opportunities that are available, and to create a reasonable and equally economical future.
