On Thursday 8 February, the European Parliament ratified the inter-institutional agreement to increase the maximum ceiling for EIB operations outside the EU to €32.3 billion in the period leading up to 2020 (see EUROPE 11915).
Eider Gardiazabal Rubial (S&D, Spain), the rapporteur on this dossier, stated, “With this vote, we will improve EU action abroad through the EIB by increasing our investment capacity to €2.32 billion by 2020, with a particular effort in Mediterranean countries and the Balkans".
The EIB will play an increased role in the EU's response to migration challenges. An envelope of €3.7 billion will be allocated to projects tackling the root causes of migration (1.4 billion for the public sector and 2.3 billion for the private sector).
The geographical distribution of the external operations will be as follows: - €8.075 billion in pre-accession phase countries; - €13.03 billion in Mediterranean countries; - €6.65 billion in eastern neighbourhood countries; - €2.694 billion in Latin American countries - €1.165 billion for Asia; - €224 million in five Central Asian countries (Kazakhstan, Kirghizstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan); - €462 million for South Africa.
The legislative revision will also mean that the EIB has to strengthen its fight against tax evasion and avoidance as part of its external operations. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)