Debate: Financial activities of the European Investment Bank - annual report
Date: WEDNESDAY, 28 FEBRUARY 2024
Speaker: Nadia Calviño Santamaría
Language: EN

Five points from my side. First of all, to thank you for your statements and ideas, for the support and the trust that the vast majority of the persons and the groups in this Parliament have shown for the European Investment Bank Group. Also, thank you very much for your suggestions on how we can improve our contribution to European policies. You have mentioned words such as competitiveness, economic security, re-industrialisation, mobilising and catalysing private investment, the climate change and the green transition. All of these elements are within our strategic priorities, as testified by our investments in 2023 and the results that are included in your report. So thank you very much.  Second point is also to thank the European Commission for its mandate. As you rightly pointed out, throughout the guarantees and mandates coming from the European budget agreed by all European institutions – and I know very well how important the role is of the European Parliament in getting those funds to fund the mandates and the guarantees – we have European successes. Joint successes like InvestEU, it has been mentioned, to fund strategic investment to fund the European industry; the NDICI, the core of our external action in our neighbourhood and beyond. So, going forward, keeping those mandates and guarantees will be absolutely indispensable if we want the European Investment Bank Group to continue to leverage the funds, the capital and the European budget, mobilising public and private investment and thus closing the investment gap and making all these transitions a European success.  My third point is to thank wholeheartedly also Mr Fernandes and Ms Győri; they have mentioned SMEs and this is at the core of the mandate, not only of the bank but also very especially of the European Investment Fund. We have been not only providing financing and supporting European SMEs, but also scaling up startups and supporting European strategic technologies so that these startups can remain in Europe and do not have to go abroad to get the necessary financing to grow as fast as possible. SMEs are at the heart of our economic tissue, and we are strongly committed to contributing and to continue to develop innovative financial instruments to provide support to these companies and allow them to also benefit from the green and digital transition.  My fourth point has to do with cohesion and social infrastructures. Both Mr Papadimoulis, Mr Fernández, you have stressed how important it is to ensure that our policies and our investments get to those parts of Europe that are less rich, less developed. Almost half of our financing inside the EU last year went to these regions. And this is, as I explained in my introductory remarks, not only fair, not only just not only correct, it is also smart if we want to continue to have strong growth and prosperity throughout the whole EU.  A fourth important point made by Mr. Goerens, Mr Heinäluoma, Ms Yon-Courtin and also by Mr Wallace, in a very different sense, has to do with security and defence. If we do not have security we cannot have prosperity, we cannot defend our mode of life, we cannot defend our shared values. That is why it is important at this point in time and this geopolitical context, to step up our activities and our support for European industry in the areas of security and defence.  For the past eight years, the EIB Group has been supporting the European security and defence industry. We have put in place the strategic programme with up to EUR 8 billion. We have mobilised innovative financing with this new defence equity facility managed by the European Investment Fund. Here, we are talking about defence. And when we’re talking about defence, we’re talking about drones, we’re talking about new technologies, we’re talking about ports for our navies. It is air transport capabilities for our airborne forces, it is border protection, it is satellites that can be used for civil objectives, but also by militaries. It is cyber security against Russian attacks. It is space, where the European Investment Bank is amongst the biggest financiers in Europe already.  That is why we had a very important exchange with European finance ministers last Friday and we agreed two concrete takeaways. To engage with the European Commission and other stakeholders on the definition and scope of dual use; I will report back in two months’ time to European finance ministers on where we are in this definition. Secondly, to work together to accelerate the investment of the EUR 6 billion remaining under this facility, providing streamlined processes and also a single window, so as to facilitate the investments that are necessary at this point in time.  Our security also has to do with supporting Ukraine at this point in time, no doubt about it. That is why when we are talking about actions outside the EU, we are also supporting the efforts of this country right now and will, I hope, very soon, engage in mobilising private investment for the reconstruction of the country.  A final point on climate. Mr Polčák, Mr Cormand, of course, and many others have mentioned the importance of Europe making the green transition a success. That is why we have been investing in all key technologies for the green transition. Ms Benjumea and others have spoken about some specific technologies. Let me be very clear: the European Investment Bank has been financing net-zero technologies in the past. We have been investing in R&D, in the fuel cycle, in security. Only some weeks ago, we financed more than EUR 100 million in Romania to ensure the recovery of tritium, a nuclear fuel. We do this hand in hand with Euratom, so fully aligned with European policies. That is what we will continue to do, supporting R&D and all technologies that are playing a key role in the green transition, with a very special emphasis on renewables, which is obviously our top priority and where the European Investment Bank Group is already playing a very important role.  Let me close here, thanking you again for this very productive exchange and looking forward to deepening our cooperation in the coming years.