Brussels, 18/05/2011 (Agence Europe) - At the annual meeting of the European Investment Bank board of governors meeting on Tuesday, 17 May in Brussels, EIB president, Philippe Maystadt, indicated that the EIB would pursue three strategic objectives in support of the EU policy agenda: “EUROPE 2020” strategy; climate action and the EU's external policy. The board of governors is made up of the finance ministers from the 27 EU member states. It has agreed the Bank's 2011 lending targets, which foresee a gradual return to pre-crisis levels. After the extraordinary lending volume of €79bn in 2009 and €72bn in 2010, the EIB is planning for a total of €63bn this year. Philippe Maystadt declared that, “This reflects our plan to gradually reduce lending volumes to pre-crisis levels, as our crisis response package was always designed as a targeted and temporary measure for 2009 and 2010”.
The first of the three strategic objectives that the EU will be putting forward in 2011 to support EU action is the “EUROPE 2020 strategy”. The main aim of this strategy is to boost employment and productivity, notably by investing more and better in education, research and innovation. Maystadt pointed out that, in 2010, the Bank had provided finance worth over €4 billion for projects in the education sector and over €7 billion for research, development and innovation projects and that, “the EIB plans to further step up its financing to meet the goals of the strategy”.
Climate action. The fight against climate change will continue to be a top priority for the Bank. The EIB's climate action projects contributing directly to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions - reached €20.5 billion in 2010. This is nearly 30 percent of the Bank's total lending. Of that, 6.2 billion went to renewable energy, mainly wind and solar power, and 2.3 billion to energy efficiency, “a figure that is set to increase in the years ahead as there is still enormous potential for energy savings, especially in public buildings and housing”, explained Maystadt.
EU external policy. Maystadt explained that subject to approval of a €1 billion increase in its lending ceiling for the Mediterranean region, the EIB would be able to provide some 5.8 billion of lending to the Mediterranean countries over the period 2011- 2013 (EUROPE 10321), with a special focus on countries that have made progress in their transition towards a more open and democratic political system.
On the question of a limited increase in the ceiling for enlargement countries, the president of the EIB said that he hoped an agreement would be found and that, “indeed, it would be politically difficult to explain to a country like Croatia that we have to reduce the volume of our operations there as they come closer to accession”.
On a more general note, Maystadt said that, “I am glad the review of the EIB's external mandates confirms that the EU guarantee is a very economical way of using budgetary resources to promote EU policies. In this context I would like to recall that since the establishment of the guarantee fund, the EU guarantee has actually not constituted any burden on the EU budget as on the only two occasions when the EIB has had to call on it - in the 1990s for projects in former Yugoslavia and in 2003-04 in Argentina - the money was ultimately completely recovered and returned to the EU budget”.
In the context of the review of external mandates, a number of changes are considered with regard to the EIB's role outside the EU. Maystadt said that it would not make sense for the EIB to become another World Bank-type of organisation, saying: “What we need is a financial institution, which can support specific external objectives of the EU”. He concluded that if the Union, “genuinely wants to develop an effective external policy, the EU must have a financial arm. The EIB can be that arm as it is the only financial institution that is legally bound and technically equipped to support EU policies”. (O.L.trans/fl)