Mr President, Mr Maystadt, the Lisbon Process cannot be imagined without the European Investment Bank. Support for SMEs and for entrepreneurship as sources of employment is becoming more important, as external finance other than through banks is becoming more expensive and bank finance for small and medium-sized enterprises is becoming more and more problematic. When we consider what the European Investment Bank has achieved since 1968, in terms both of funds and of initial support for projects, I consider the outcome to be an impressive one. I must say that the integration of the EIF and the EIB under one roof, which was pushed through by the Lisbon Process, has resulted in an optimisation of the European Investment Bank's activities right across the board. I would therefore ask those who now want to push for the founding of another bank, to rely on, and make use of, the competence and qualified expert staff that the European Investment Bank has at its disposal. It is for that reason that I oppose the founding of another bank. It would surely also be in the interests of the Central and Eastern European States for the work of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and that of the European Investment Bank to be more efficiently harmonised and coordinated with each other. I am therefore sure that both the European Investment Bank's quality and its financial activity will be improved still further, or advanced, at the European Summit in Madrid, due, among other things, to the European Commission's consolidated report. As has been pointed out by my fellow Members and also in Mr Schmidt's report, one must surely see to it that the best possible use is made of funds for small and medium-sized enterprises. It will, without doubt, be a matter for our concern that there may be a decreasing number of small and medium-sized banks and financial institutions available with which the European Investment Bank can manage the flow of its funds. So it is, of course, very encouraging that the European Investment Bank has a network of 130 active intermediaries and that activity in Italy has now resumed to an encouraging extent. We should bear in mind, though, that what matters, above all, is that small and medium-sized enterprises should really be enabled to get access to working capital and also risk-capital financing at their local level. It is therefore important, Mr Maystadt, that an assessment should be submitted of what influence this activity by the European Investment Bank has actually had on growth and employment at local and regional level. Regional development is, after all, one of its main fields of activity. We know that the whole European Union benefits if economic and social cohesion can be realised at regional level. So this assessment must be carried out, as should in future be done, before the Spring Summits, so that even better use may be made of the European Investment Bank's instruments. One final plea, Mr President. All the institutions are committed to the need for gender mainstreaming. I have noted that progress has been made in appointments to the European Investment Bank. There is so far, unfortunately, only one woman on its board, and so the Member States are urged to give women, too, the facilities and opportunities to play their part in the Investment Bank's work. I also note that, at its highest level of management, only one of the twelve officials is a woman. There must be changes here.

Political group: PSE