Brussels, 14/06/2011 (Agence Europe) - 2010 was a record year for the EIB with regard to funding in the Euro-Mediterranean area, said EIB Vice-President Philippe de Fontaine Vive on Friday 10 June in Brussels, saying €2.6 billion had been allocated to that area, i.e. 60% more than the previous year. He was speaking to the press at a preview of the annual report of the FEMIP (Euro-Mediterranean facility for investment and partnership, a regional financial instrument managed by the EIB), which was an occasion for him to highlight EIB activity during the past year as a prelude to the major gathering on 12 July, when finance ministers of the Euro-Mediterranean will meet in Brussels in order to redirect bank loans with a view to creating jobs. This has become a requirement since the “revolutions” in Tunisia and Egypt and those underway in neighbouring countries (Morocco, Algeria and also Libya and Syria). The Bank is therefore working along the lines of the pledges taken at the May G8 meeting in Deauville (France), which undertook to provide substantial support for Arab countries that have taken up democracy. This also provided an opportunity for the Council and Parliament to examine the dossier on extending the EIB's external mandate.
In his report for 2010, Philippe de Fontaine Vive underlined the Bank's energetic action that brought in €2.6 billion in loans, 43% of which were in the private sector and 57% in the public sector, with 50% (€1.3 billion) of all funding being disbursed. Of this amount, €14.2 million were allocated to technical assistance operations, and 18 projects were covered by funding and capital investment operations in the energy, transport, water, industry, human capital and health sectors. The EIB, as its vice-president pointed out, plans to devote its effort more to supporting SMEs and infrastructure (roads, energy and solar power). He underlined, moreover, the resolve to act in a cohesive and coordinated manner with the EBRD also. The latter's mandate is being extended to the Mediterranean countries, with the Union for the Mediterranean and with the major long-term financing bodies including the African Development Bank (AfDB), which sees an increased role in North Africa. De Fontaine vive also said the EIB recently suspended all its activity in Syria and is preparing to work with Libya as soon as that country has been freed from dictatorship. (F.B./transl.jl)