Debate: The future European Financial Architecture for Development
Date: WEDNESDAY, 23 NOVEMBER 2022
Speaker: Janez Lenarčič
Language: EN

I agree with many of the considerations outlined in this report and its conclusions. European financial architecture for development is an important building block of our more effective and more impactful cooperation with partner countries. We are confronted today with multiple crises – the consequences of COVID-19, the Russian aggression against Ukraine, debt pressure, food insecurity, energy costs and climate change. All of these exacerbate the gap in finances needed to achieve the sustainable development goals.  To make the best possible use of scarce resources and to achieve sustainable impact, we need a joint European response combining all relevant instruments and actors. Following a system-wide review of the European financial architecture for development already in 2019, the Commission adopted its timely roadmap for an improved effort last March. The roadmap is organised around four different areas. First, providing a strong policy steer to strengthen alignment with EU policy objectives. Two, enhancing coordination and providing incentives to work together. Three, making the architecture more inclusive, and four, raising the visibility of EU actions.  Since then, significant progress has been made in all these four areas. Let me briefly mention some examples.  On strategic steering, all investment operations financed from the EU budget are scrutinised to ensure that they comply with programming documents, that they align with team Europe initiatives and the EU’s global policy priorities, such as delivering on the global gateway strategy and the Green Deal, and also mainstreaming gender and environmental aspects.  We aim to make use of our various EU tools and development actors in smart and flexible ways. For instance, the European Investment Bank will benefit from the dedicated guarantee windows, but will also be able to use the private sector guarantees under EFSD+ open architecture. The Commission is currently assessing the outcome of the call for proposals.  I share your views on the importance of inclusiveness. In principle, all EU pillar assessed financial institutions are eligible to use the open architecture guarantee. This includes multilateral institutions and regional development banks, while also relying, whenever possible, on European financial institutions.  Under the EFSD+ open architecture, we received guarantee proposals from 20 potential implementing partners – exceeding expectations. Several new partners submitted proposals for the first time from within the EU and outside. For instance, the Caribbean Development Bank. We will be able to select those proposals which offer a strong development impact and best fit our strategic policy priorities. I fully agree that efforts should improve the EU’s visibility and impact of its development finance. Many EU delegations report that the Team Europe Initiative’s design process has significantly increased cooperation with European development finance institutions on the ground.  You also call for effective governance of the global gateway strategy. The Commission and Member States agreed to set up a global gateway board to provide strategic steering, and we propose that the European Parliament is of course involved as observer, and a dedicated business advisory group to exchange with European businesses. This will allow strong strategic guidance on our collective ambitions.