On 20 April 2015, the Council formally approved a new regulation which was published in the Official Journal of the European Union on 19 May 2015 aiming at increasing the pool of capital available for long-term financing in the European real economy by creating a new European investment fund vehicle appealing to investors such as insurance companies or pension funds which need steady income streams or long-term capital growth. The ELTIF project was announced by the EU Commission back in October 2012 in the Single Market Act II communication and in the Green Paper on Long-Term Financing of the European Economy. 

The main features of ELTIFs are described in the article attached below.