The overall objective was to provide DG NEAR with an overview of key market failures and sub-optimal investment situations to which the Commission should respond when setting up investment windows under the European Fund for Sustainable Development plus (EFSD+) Guarantee and updating investment priorities to be addressed by the European Union's respective blending platforms, namely the Western Balkans Investment Framework (WBIF) and the Neighbourhood Investment Platform (NIP).
The analysis covered all DG NEAR countries of operation for blending and budgetary guarantees (clustered for analytical purposes in four regions, namely Western Balkans, Turkey, Eastern Neighbourhood, Southern Neighbourhood) and provided detailed assessments on the market failures and sub-optimal investment situations in the preidentified areas, namely:

• Access to Finance for private companies, particularly Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs);
• Green Finance; and
• Financing Digital Transformation.

The analysis thereby helped to target intervention of the European Union under both blending facilities under DG NEAR responsibility (WBIF, NIP) and under all types of budgetary guarantees foreseen under the EFSD+. More specifically, it helped to target financing operations that could be provided by the European Investment Bank (EIB) and other implementing partners. The analysis was driven by empirical knowledge of the economic situations and financial market environments in the respective regions.