The European guarantee fund and COVID-19: Agile but in need of greater accountability

<h4><b><u>Key Points</u></b></h4><p dir="ltr">• The European Guarantee Fund formed an important part of the EU’s first response to the COVID-19 pandemic.</p><p dir="ltr">• Despite delays from some member states and the European Commission over the creation of this instrument, the European Investment Bank (EIB) moved at high speed to support SMEs and mid-caps.</p><p dir="ltr">• The European Guarantee Fund was vertically accountable to national governments, but it needed stronger horizontal accountability to the European Parliament and diagonal accountability to NGOs.</p><p dir="ltr">• The EIB should commit to an independent ex-post evaluation of the European Guarantee Fund’s design, operation and impact.</p>