President Calviño: A new beginning for Europe

Thank you very much for your kind words, for the introduction, dear Rector, Professor Billari, Professor Sironi, querido ambajador, dear President, caro Mario!

Buongiorno, dear students, faculty, honoured guests!

I would like to start obviously with my warmest wishes to all of you for the new academic year! And congratulations to all the students that have made it here, to begin a new chapter in your lives at one of Europe’s leading universities.

I am sure it will be time, time well spent - productive, intellectually stimulating and – if I remember well what university was like – you will enjoy it enormously!

And as I was hearing the introductions, I was thinking, there was a lot of talk about philanthropy. I would like to start by asking for a round of applause to the greatest philanthropist of all: your parents, your family!

Because let’s be honest: you’ve done a great job in getting here, but without them, without their support, you won’t probably have made it. I am also a mother, so I really wanted to give this round of applause to those that have been following you.

I have a confession to make: this is probably the best moment of my week. It is really a great opportunity, and I am really happy to join you on this very special occasion to also catch up with many friends that are part of the Bocconi family, the Bocconi alumni family.

And I was also very happy to see with my own eyes the result of our work at the European Investment Bank. Because, as the President already said, the Group has supported Bocconi with three financing agreements over the past 20 years for the building of new campuses, upgrades, and new student residences which I think is a very good investment actually.

The European Investment Bank is one the world’s biggest financiers of education infrastructures: from primary schools in Marseille to secondary schools in Ukraine, in Kyiv, these are just the latest signatures that we have made in the last ten days.

And I am really proud to see it here and to say it because investing in education brings extremely highs returns for the future. And social infrastructures are at the heart of the European model. Actually, I would argue that, together with the dividends of peace and the global order, this has already been mentioned by the previous speakers, this social market economy actually explains our unprecedented success since the end of World War II.

Now, President Sironi already spoke about the current geopolitical environment and the Rector also, the challenges that we’re living, because actually, this new geopolitical context is challenging the pillars of the European model, generating instability, conflict, bringing anxiety to citizens in Europe and around the world.

EIB Group’s Priorities

In this complex environment, the European Investment Bank is in a unique position to support our shared priorities:

• because we have a €600 billion balance sheet and a stellar AAA rating, we are the largest multilateral financial institution in the world.
• equally important is that we are pan-European by design, with projects and presence in every corner of our Union.

Our shareholders are the 27 Member States – no more and no less. I don’t need to elaborate here on why it is relevant that it is the 27 Member States and no other shareholders. And it means that our narrative, our priorities are fully aligned with European values, European policies and we enjoy the unanimous support of our 27 Member States.

Earlier during the summer, some weeks ago, our Governors unanimously supported increasing our annual activity ceiling to €100 billion, as well as endorsing our strategic priorities.

Our priorities are absolutely aligned with the priorities of the European Union that President Von der Leyen has been explaining during the morning. We were just joking with Mario Monti and saying : “the attention of Europe is now in Bocconi, and not necessarily in Strasbourg.”

But obviously, the European Investment Bank, as financing arm of the European Union, is fully aligned with the priorities that have been outlined by President Von der Leyen earlier today.

Out top priority is consolidating our role as The Climate Bank; staying the course, to make the green transition a European success. And this is not only a matter for the future, because these investments are key to strengthen European competitiveness, reducing costs, ensuring strategic autonomy and industrial excellence in the clean technologies of the future, reducing energy prices for businesses and also for citizens.

We are already financing 40% of the ongoing infrastructure investments in the area of energy, and right on track to invest well more than €50 billion euros again this year in green projects, and this means major electricity interconnections, support to wind and solar industry manufacturers, and cleantech pioneers.

Here in Italy, I had the chance in July to participate in July in the signature of an important loan to Terna, for the flagship Adriatic link submarine cable. Actually, Terna is our main client for power grids. So, everytime you see, you hear about investment in energy infrastructures, you can picture in your mind the European Investment Bank logo and the European flag.   

Our second priority is digitalization and innovation, trying to support European innovators so that ideas, companies, technologies that are born in the EU can thrive, can prosper also here, in Europe.

We are rolling out a pioneering TechEU programme, with the goal of mobilising €250 billion by 2027 in investments in artificial intelligence, quantum computing, digital technologies, health and biotech, clean tech, security and defence, skills and talent, digital infrastructures, and critical raw materials.

TechEU is bigger, faster, and simpler than any other previous programmes, to support Europe’s innovators.

So I would like to use this opportunity to invite all those TechEU pioneers, that are also going to thrive in this university, to check out on the opportunities that we’ll be putting to them in what I hope to be an easy-to-use platform to have access to support.

Our third priority, unfortunately, but this is our third priority now, is investing in Europe’s security and defence, swiftly responding to geopolitical realities. We doubled our financing in this area last year, and we are going to more than triple in 2025 so that 3.5% of our financing in 2025 goes to stepping up Europe’s security and defence capabilities, with flagship operations to:

• reinforce Europe’s critical infrastructures,
• strengthen our industrial capabilities, including in drones,
• support homegrown Research and Development,
• facilitate access to finance by small and medium-sized companies throughout the value chain of large European contractors, and
• to nurture the development of dedicated investment funds, in the area of security and defence.

We have already signed a loan to finance helicopters for the Italian armed forces, and I am sure there will be other important projects coming up soon in your country.

Let me mention briefly the other five priorities:

Our fourth priority is cohesion, a founding pillar of the European Union at the heart, at the core of the EIB mandate.

Because talent is equally distributed. You know, people are just as smart in Sicily as they are here in Milano, but opportunities are not equally spread. So what we’re doing is, we’re bringing financing and opportunities where talent is, in every corner of our Union.

The EIB Group hit a record last year in financing investments in cohesion regions. Almost half of our financing inside the EU goes to these regions: for example, recently we signed an agreement to bring better water services to almost half a million people in the region of Abruzzo.

Fifth priority is supporting our agriculture and our food security, which is a priority actually under the responsibility of the Italian Vice-President, Gelsomina Vigliotti.

We have launched our largest-ever programme for agriculture, a € 3 billion to support in particular projects led by young farmers and young women.  

Earlier this year, for example, we signed an innovative agreement with the region of Calabria, to finance the creation of over 1,200 new farming businesses managed by young people.  

Sixth major priority is investing in social infrastructure. The European economic model – I already mentioned education, but this is also quality healthcare, more and better homes for all citizens.

I already spoke about education, and next week I will be intervening at an event organized by the European Parliament’s Special Housing Committee, led by an Italian MEP by the way, an event that will take please here in Milan, about our Action Plan to deliver around one million more affordable and sustainable homes in Europe, by 2030.   In Naples, for example, we’re already transforming a former office building into a vibrant residence, for 500 students. I wanted to mention this because students’ accommodation, I know, is a challenge here in Milan and all around Europe.

We are also, of course, financing the building and upgrade of hospitals - from Malta to Finland - because we believe that this is what defines us as Europeans: taking good care of each other.

The seventh investment priority is to increase the focus on impact and European interest in our activities outside the EU.  That means reinforcing Europe’s voice in the new global order, which is  in the making as we speak.

When everything, everywhere, all at once is changing, Europe’s role as a beacon of freedom and civil rights, with a strong reputation as a reliable partner, committed to cooperation, win-win outcomes, is a strategic asset.

We must seize this opportunity to open new markets for our goods and services, supporting European exporters, diversifying our supply chains, including in Critical Raw Materials,- I already mentioned it - and deepening our alliances, both in our neighbourhood and beyond.

In a world which becomes increasingly transactional, very fashionable word, actually, I think the currency of choice is trust. And it has been mentioned here, today already. And Europe’s allies must know they can trust us to stay true to our partnerships.

Whereas 90% of our financing stays here, in the European Union, 10% is devoted to highly impactful projects.  

Let me just mention a couple of areas:

• we have provided €3.6 billion in support to Ukraine since the start of the war, repairing critical infrastructure, rebuilding schools, kindergartens, hospitals, securing the country’s energy supply. And we just approved a €500 million loan to replenish the gas storage capacity for the winter in Ukraine. Under extreme conditions, when even our offices are affected by the daily attacks, our staff on the ground signs or inaugurates a new project every second week in Ukraine
• also showing the world what Europe stands for, we are supporting  economic and financial stability in the Palestinian territories. The latest package of €400 million to be signed soon to support the private sector in the West Bank.  When Europe says that we support lasting peace and a two-state solution, we mean it. The European Investment Bank puts the money where our mouth is around the world.

Because the dividends of peace only pay off when you invest in them. Restoring trust in a world of rules and values is essential to address global challenges, from public health to climate change, from migration to security. It also key for Europe’s position and trade access to emerging economies – which make up more than 90% of the world’s population.

Last but not least, priority for the EIB Group is contributing to Europe’s Capital Markets Union.

I am lucky to see, every day, Europe’s incredible talent: the European Investment Bank Group is the biggest venture debt and venture capital financier in Europe, working with brilliant innovators researching and developing new treatments against cancer in the Netherlands and Denmark for example, advanced industrial materials like two crystals graphene in Italy, and cutting-edge satellite technologies in Luxemburg or Belgium.

Our research centres, our universities are second to none in the world. The number of startups that are created in Europe every year is comparable to those in the US.

But we are the incubator of the world, because when those companies need to grow, they need to go elsewhere to get the funding they need, they need a large internal market with no barriers to grow so that they can and reach economies of scale, and of course they need the financing, the capital to grow and become the world leaders.  

I think that this is, together with building our own security and defence capabilities, the most urgent priority right now – as both the Letta and the Draghi reports have flagged -: building a fully integrated internal market that gives companies the economies of scale of 450 million citizens.

The European Investment Bank Group is in itself a EU Capital Market Union instrument. We issue debt under a European signature and we finance pan-European investments channelling savings into productive investments for our future. And we are working closely with all our public and private partners at European level, at national level, to foster this capital market union. to complement regulatory reforms and channel savings into productive investments.

 

I talked a lot today about what we are doing, the priorities driving our investments, because we cannot take these for granted.

I am in awe every day about the vision of the founding fathers of the European Union that created the European Investment Bank from day one. This is undoubtedly one of the greatest success stories of the European Union, and everywhere you look, from the metro you took this morning, to this university, to the energy grids, to the researchers, they have the European flag behind them. The European Union, the European Investment Bank, has been a key driver of success for the Italian economy and for the European economy, we cannot take this for granted.

But I want to close with the word on the future, because right now, and we have already heard it, it all seems filled with challenges. Sometimes, the daily news is overwhelming. It's hard to keep your faith in a better world when you see the tragedies in the Middle East, the bombings in Ukraine, the growing impact of climate change, the strength of autocracies and the serious threats to democracy.

But when we look back, we realise this has happened before: actually, wars, conflicts, this was the normal situation in our countries until the creation of the European Union, which my country could only join in 1986 after the end of a 40-year-long dictatorship, and this was actually the moment when I entered university, when I was sitting in the same place that you're occupying right now. 

Well, we have come a long way since then. We have overcome many crises. Not so long ago, many in the room will remember that almost every week, there were experts foreseeing the end of the euro, the end of the European Union itself. Even more recently, the pandemic put our economies to the test, and Europe stood up to the challenge, Europe supported those countries that were more severely hit, Italy and Spain being the two countries that were most severely hit by the pandemic.

So we have overcome many crises, and against all those that are always foreseeing doom: we're still here! Alive and kicking!

Here are two, three main lessons that I take from these experiences. 

First one is that when we act with unity, determination and solidarity, we are unstoppable. The second lesson is that there is no such thing as mission impossible, and I can testify to that, because I have succeeded in many areas that were foreseen to be mission impossible. And the third lesson is that, when we reach a critical juncture, what looks like the end of the road is only the starting point for a new beginning.

And we are at such a juncture today: we have to change our ways, to adapt, to RESET.

But in many ways, this is also an opportunity, especially for the students, for the young. It is an opportunity to shape the future, to build a better world. And the unfolding technology revolution, from clean energy to artificial intelligence and quantum computing, opens new possibilities.

These are extraordinary times, because the world is more connected, more innovative than ever before. Things that seemed to be science fiction only yesterday are now tools in our hands, if we use them well. Because innovation is not only about technology, this was very well-explained by the Rector in his speech. It is also a way of thinking. It means questioning assumptions, seeking different perspectives, and having the courage to try new ideas. And the same goes for the European project itself. The European Union has overcome every crisis and remains the best place to live, I am very comfortable to say it here in Italy, because in every crisis, it sees the opportunities to adapt, to change.

And this history, our unity, our resilience, gives me confidence for the future. Looking at you gives me confidence for the future, because it is up to all of us to take the right decisions and shape the future. It is my generation now at the helm, but very soon, it will be you to lead the countries, in public service, in private companies, in research centres, hospitals, universities.

So let me leave you with a quote and a call for action that inspires me every day. When someone asked Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa, one of the fathers of the euro, -there were no mothers at the time -, and also an eminent Bocconi alumnus, of course, "What is your objective, Padoa-Schioppa? Do you aim to understand the world or to change it?"

He said, "Obviously, the two. I want to understand the world and to change it. That is why I am an economist." 

Of course, me being an economist, this resonates very much with you. But the same goes for all these emerging leaders, game-changers, that you are building, that you're nurturing in these organisations. So this is my call for action.

Doctors, engineers, mathematicians, lawyers, sociologists, accountants, computer scientists: use this extraordinary opportunity here to prepare yourselves.

Listen, watch, learn, experiment, and get ready to understand and to change the world.

As it was already said, today, we are fighting for freedom, we're fighting for human rights, we're fighting for the rule of law, for respect, for our European democratic values, we're fighting for peace, and this is the good fight, so come join the fight.

Taking the words of Leonard Cohen, "It is time to ring the bells that still can ring.”

"There is a crack, there is a crack in everything, and that is how the light gets in." Let me leave you with this positive message of confidence and determination and my best wishes for the academic year.

Thank you very much.