The European Commission raised, on Wednesday 25 January, €5 billion in its first syndicated transaction for 2023, by topping up its 30-year bond maturing on 4 March 2053.
This is the first syndication under the EU’s unified funding approach that the Commission introduced as its main funding method as of January 2023. The Commission issues - on behalf of the Union - bonds under the single name of ‘EU-Bonds’, rather than separately labelled bonds for individual programmes.
The transaction was met with a strong interest by investors:: it was more than 10 times oversubscribed, with bids exceeding €51 billion.
The funds raised will be used to finance the two main programmes that currently benefit from debt financing: the Next Generation EU recovery programme and the Macro-Financial Assistance + programme for Ukraine.
The Commission has thus raised nearly €10 billion out of its €80 billion funding target for the first half of 2023. This includes €4.68 billion raised in early January through an EU-Bonds auction. Out of the €80 billion funding target, some €70 billion will be directed to Next Generation EU, and around €10 billion, for Ukraine. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)