Debate: Financial activities of the European Investment Bank - annual report  - Control of the financial activities of the European Investment Bank - annual report
Date: MONDAY, 5 JULY 2021
Speaker: Werner Hoyer
Language: EN

First of all, let me thank the European Parliament for the support that we have always enjoyed for the work of the EIB. It is about the preservation of the role of and the standing of the Bank to deliver its mandate. Sometimes you might want to talk about a new legal basis for this Bank, but then you need to change the treaty. To be honest, the Bank is owned by the Member States of the European Union, and that’s it. One can change that, I have nothing against the idea, but then please go to the European Council and the other formations and try to find Treaty change on that.  I’d like to start with a more general point, which is really on my mind and a heavy burden on it. We know exactly that we will overcome the big challenges and we will meet the big challenges only via innovative means. We need to be more innovative. The fact is that the Member States of the European Union and the Union itself, for the last 16 years, have on average invested 1.6% of GDP less into research, development and innovation than our competitors in North America and Asia. And nobody should believe that this goes without an impact on our competitiveness and our productivity growth. So we need to address that issue first. And this is why I insist, violently, that we need not, that we must not take innovation, climate and development apart, it all belongs together. And nobody should hide behind the virus when it comes to these necessary activities in the field of innovation, climate and development. I have heard with great joy that, for instance, Mr Silva Pereira expressed the wish for an institutional agreement between the EP and the EIB. I would appreciate a discussion on this and I also heard that some of you want to visit Luxembourg – you are always welcome. We should organise this indeed. I do not see too many MEPs in Luxembourg, but too few. So let’s change that. We can get into good dialogue there. You also referred to the European Guarantee Fund (EGF). I think we have had your great support, and the call for the continuation of the EGF – which is currently gaining a good implementation speed – is highly appreciated. Some of your remarks were music to my ears, but it’s not up to me to change this. On transparency, Mr Eickhout referred to transparency and also to intermediated lending, you will know that we not only review our transparency policy but we also look at the review of our environmental and social standards. Both processes are ongoing: we should keep the discussion going on on these issues. I take that extremely seriously. When it comes to the governance issues, we have updated the codes of conduct in 2019, and further adaptations are taking place right now – this covers the code of conduct of the Board, the Management Committee and the Audit Committee. In this context, let me say that I take the sentences that I heard about a former colleague of the Management Committee very, very seriously. But it’s a very individual case, and it has been referred to the European Ombudsman, which I respect, and I think it is in the very best hands there. We have delivered all information, we operate with full transparency there, but I need to protect a colleague who, in my view, is not being attacked in a fair way. We have played it by the rules and by the book, and she has, and therefore I insist that we don’t come to premature conclusions before the European Ombudsman has taken a position. I trust that we have done the right thing there. There were a couple of allegations concerning the personnel situation in the bank and I must say that some of the allegations that I’ve read in newspapers I simply cannot understand. And some of these were vicious. The EIB staff is highly motivated and proud to work for the bank. The EIB staff show a high degree of loyalty, otherwise we would have a little bit more rotation and mobility, but once we are in Luxembourg, they don’t go away anymore. The COVID-19 pandemic, of course, put additional stress on every institution and we tried to help people who are suffering from it. But the most important thing is that we are seriously trying to improve the culture of the institution, and one issue that has helped us in getting closer to where we want to be is through considerable progress on gender equality. And one last word, in this context: we have zero tolerance for harassment at the EIB. And that is something that needs to be said, particularly today when Luxembourg celebrates Pride Week. So we are reviewing our environmental and social sustainability framework, and following the calls from the European Parliament, as part of the review, the EIB group will propose a new standard for intermediate finance to ensure the highest level of integrity and compliance of the financial intermediaries and their projects. I have heard a word on the European Financial Architecture for Development (EFAD), which I loved. I think it comes through now more or less clearly that it is important to have one development finance institution that is run by the European Union and its Member States only. In the case of conflict, no Russian, no Chinese, no American, no Egyptian can intervene and block things. And we need to live up to this responsibility. This is why, to be quite clear, I believe that we should not reduce but expand our development business, particularly in the context of climate, innovation and development, and therefore we should organise ourselves better – in what form we can discuss. I believe as a subsidiary of EIB to which we might invite others like the European Commission or the national promotional banks or development agencies, is the best solution. But we have seen that according to the Council conclusions of June, we will now have in the third quarter of 2021 to deliver a report and a set of ideas to the EU institutions in this context. So things will pick up speed now quickly. I am sorry, Mr President, I still have 25 pages here, but I promise you that I will really respond to each and every one in writing or in a personal approach. Thank you very much, it was a pleasure to be here.