Juncker unveils 300b euro plan to kick-start European economy

New European Union Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker unveiled an eagerly awaited €315 billion (HK$3 trillion) investment plan to "kick-start" the economy, insisting it would show the world Europe was back in business after years of crisis.

Juncker said the proposal, which must be approved by European leaders at a summit next month, would mix an investment fund with a scheme to match new projects with private money. "Europe needs a kick-start and today the commission is providing the jump cable," Juncker told the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France.

"We need to send a message to Europe and to the rest of the world: Europe is back in business."

The new European Fund for Strategic Investment will be funded to the tune of €21 billion, but Juncker said its work would have a net effect on the economy of 15 times that - about €315 billion.

The plan is the cornerstone of Juncker's five-year agenda to revive the EU's moribund economy, which has failed to grow since the financial crisis and is mired in mass unemployment and near-deflation.

The former Luxembourg prime minister rejected criticism that the fund contained no new money and only re-engineered existing funds.