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

Key Points

• The European Guarantee Fund formed an important part of the EU’s first response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

• 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.

• 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.

• The EIB should commit to an independent ex-post evaluation of the European Guarantee Fund’s design, operation and impact.