Brussels, 26/11/2004 (Agence Europe) - The European Investment Bank's Annual Report for 2003-2004 is expected to make a more positive assessment than the previous report, said EP rapporteur Alain Lipietz (French Green) at a meeting of the European Parliament's Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee. The MEP said that in terms of transparency, the EIB is one of the best financial institutions. During the meeting, EIB President Philippe Maystadt and Professor Andre Sapir (author of a report on the EU's economic perspectives published in July 2003) discussed the EIB's role in promoting the Lisbon Strategy.
EIB President Maystadt stressed how the bank had diversified its activity since the Lisbon European Council of 2001, going on to describe some of the bank's activities. It is now funding IT projects, like the i2I-2010 initiative whereby it loaned EUR 17 bn between 2000 and 2003 for research and innovation, human capital and the development of high tech. Through the European Investment Fund, it has also invested EUR 3 bn in 200 specialist funds for innovative SMEs.
Using a euphemism, Andre Sapir said that Lisbon had not been a success, and the reasons for this were problems with economic governance, he said, along with a confusion regarding the responsibilities of the EU and the Member States and a lack of funding for implementing the strategy. Sapir said around EUR 200 bn more a year was required in investment for research and higher education. In this situation, the EIB made a positive but insufficient contribution, he added, regretting the lack of visibility of the EIB's work, which was ill-known. He noted that in the Kok Report there was only one sentence on the EIB. Sapir said the next months and days would be crucial since it was a matter of getting the Lisbon Process up and running or watch it collapse.
Dutch Socialist Ieke van den Burg recommended shifting EIB funding to Lisbon areas (growth, R+D and innovation) and excluding such investment from calculations for the Stability and Growth Pact. Belgian Socialist Mia de Vits agreed that all future-oriented investment should be excluded from the Pact. Magda Stockiewicz, representing Bankwatch, said that there had been a change in the EIB's transparency policy over the past six years. Bankwatch assesses the environmental and social impact of international financial organisations (like the ERBD, IMF etc). It notes a series of problems but comments that the EIB has promised to review its information policy.
In terms of the environment, Maystadt said the EIB had already changed its approach and now only funded projects meeting the EU's environment standards. Asked about innovative policies, Maystadt said that by combining EIB loans with other EU funding it was possible to make a real difference, and that granting loans implied selecting between projects, but EU subsidies were better able to take account of value-added in the social field.