Nadia Calviño presented the EIB Group’s 2025 activity in Spain at a press conference in Madrid on 9 February 2026.
Thank you very much, Daniel, for that warm welcome. Thank you, María, for coming down to join us today. And thank you, as always, for making this place – our home – feel even more like it for the couple of times a year we come to give an important presentation on the activities of the European Investment Bank Group in Spain.
Joining me here today – and I’m very glad to have them with me – are Pilar Solano, who is the director of the private sector activities and financing department, not just in Spain but across the entire European Union; Marco Marrone, who is the chief investment officer at the European Investment Fund, the EIB Group’s subsidiary that provides guarantees, makes equity investments and therefore plays a key role in financing European small and medium-sized enterprises and startups; and also María Serrano, the head of division responsible specifically for Spain, along with the head of our Madrid office, whom you all undoubtedly know, María Romano.
Before we get started, I'd like to share a message of solidarity, support and compassion for all those people and families who have been – and still are – directly affected by the torrential rains devastating large parts of our country. I think we're all holding our breath, sharing and trying to convey our support, our compassion and our heartfelt concern for all those who still haven’t been able to return to their homes. I wanted to express this before starting the presentation.
Turning now to the reason we're here today, I'd like to begin by talking about the 40 years since Spain joined the European Union. Four decades of extraordinary progress for our country – four decades in which the EIB has played a very important role. In fact, as has already been mentioned, the Bank began operating in Spain even before the country joined the European Union. So, when Spain entered the EU, the EIB was already there, playing an absolutely essential role in financing the major projects that have driven Spain’s progress since the 1980s.
Wherever there is a major, flagship project of national significance, you’ll find EU financing – and you’ll find the EIB Group. Here are just a few examples that most of us will remember well to illustrate this: the modernisation of the city of Barcelona in preparation for the 1992 Olympic Games; the first Madrid-Seville high-speed rail line and all the work that transformed Seville for the Expo; investment in ports such as Barcelona, Bilbao and Algeciras; Madrid-Barajas Airport's terminal T4; the metro systems of Madrid, Barcelona, Seville and Málaga, and tram networks like those in Alicante, Zaragoza and Granada; the restoration of Barcelona’s Liceu Theatre; public hospitals in A Coruña, Cantabria, Burgos, La Rioja and Murcia; and, in recent years, the rollout of renewable energy, firmly establishing Spain as a leader in renewables.
In short, the EIB is there wherever it is needed – helping to build a more modern and dynamic Spain that, in turn, strengthens Europe, and stepping up in times of crisis, from providing financial support after the Prestige oil spill and for the reconstruction following the Lorca earthquake, to responding swiftly to last year's torrential storms and summer wildfires.
Beyond supporting projects that drive economic growth and national progress and helping communities rebuild after disasters, the EIB has also played a crucial stabilising role in the Spanish economy – maintaining its activity and its financial support for Spain’s businesses and industries during and after the 2008 financial crisis, and, importantly, throughout the pandemic.
The role of the EIB Group in Spain has been enormously significant – both in recent years and over the past several decades.
Turning now to our activity in 2025, it has been a truly historic year for the EIB Group’s work in Spain.
Today we are presenting the Activity Report for a year that has been very positive in every respect – one that, as I noted a couple of weeks ago when speaking about the Group’s impact across the European Union, clearly illustrates our role in driving momentum and modernisation across our Union.
This is more important than ever, as Daniel Calleja has already pointed out, at a time when the world order is entering a new phase and there is unanimous agreement on what must be done. When European leaders meet this Thursday to reflect on competitiveness, they will do so with a strong sense of unity – both in their assessment and in their understanding of the key areas where action is needed to boost productivity and strengthen the competitiveness of the European economy. Market integration, investment, scale and critical mass and simplification, and the strengthening of international networks – the strategic alliances that the European Union maintains across the globe.
And in this context, the EIB is supporting the European Union’s policy priorities across these four areas. It's undoubtedly one of the EU’s great success stories – not only in terms of the figures, but because we’ve been able to put all our financial firepower to work to make a real difference. And 2025 has been an exceptionally successful year from this perspective, with a record €100 billion in annual financing and all time highs across six key areas: energy networks and storage; innovation to reinforce Europe’s technological leadership; security and defence; the expansion of affordable and sustainable housing; financing for agriculture and the bioeconomy; and support for Ukraine.
2025 was the year in which Europe made a real leap in investment in security and defence. And it’s not only that we’ve quadrupled the overall financing in this area – what really matters is that we’ve broadened the types of projects we can fund, making sure we meet all the needs in the purely military sphere.
And all of this has been possible thanks to the unanimous support of our shareholders – the 27 EU Member States – who have firmly backed our roadmap, our strategic priorities, the increase in our financing capacity, and the strong position of the EIB. Thanks to this unanimous support, and to the strength of the EIB’s business model, we hold a triple A rating and manage a balance sheet of over €600 billion – making us one of the world’s largest multilateral banks, pan-European by definition, with projects in every corner of the European Union and in 130 countries around the globe.
This is the backdrop for the European Investment Bank’s activities and, turning now specifically to Spain, 2025 was a record year for the EIB Group’s work in the country, for two main reasons.
First, because of the strong growth of the Spanish economy which, as you all know, is currently outperforming – and leading – the average of the other EU countries.
And second, because of the activation of the NextGenerationEU loans, which moved ahead at a very good pace in 2025. So, in addition to the roughly €11 billion financed with the EIB Group’s own resources, we must add a further €2.9 billion in NextGenerationEU funds that the EIB deployed in Spain. These NextGenerationEU funds are already taking shape in projects visible in every corner of our country – from power grids and renewable generation, to urban development, education projects, sustainable tourism and support for small and medium-sized enterprises, especially in partnership with the autonomous communities.
As I’ve already said, wherever there is a strategic investment initiative in Spain – from housing to security and defence – the EIB is likely to be involved.
Across Europe, and in Spain as well, the EIB firmly established itself as the EU climate bank in 2025. Support for the green transition accounted for roughly half of the Group’s financing in Spain, with several standout areas.
Record investment in electricity networks – nearly €1.9 billion – which includes the major Bay of Biscay electricity interconnector project. A submarine cable of more than 300 kilometres that will double the electricity exchange capacity between Spain and France – crucial for connecting the Iberian peninsula with the rest of Europe and ending its energy isolation. EIB Group financing is also helping to rebuild Iberdrola’s storm-damaged networks. In fact, the EIB is currently financing half of all electricity grid investments in Spain. One in every two euros invested in electricity grids in Spain in 2025 comes from EIB financing.
Beyond grid upgrades, Europe is firmly committed to renewables and storage as a cornerstone of modernising the energy system and enhancing business competitiveness by lowering electricity prices. Some emblematic examples in Spain in 2025 include the second financing tranche for the Salto de Chira hydroelectric plant in the Canary Islands and investment channelled through CaixaBank enabling Navantia to expand the production of offshore wind components at its shipyards on the Ferrol estuary and in Puerto Real, Andalusia.
Alongside this major infrastructure, we have launched financing programmes through financial intermediaries across the country to support energy efficiency within small and medium businesses. The EIB is supporting the installation of smart meters, more efficient ventilation systems, and active energy-saving measures, helping to lower energy costs for these firms.
Third, we are also working to drive industrial decarbonisation and the production of next-generation materials and fuels, with loans such as the one granted to ArcelorMittal for the production of low-carbon iron and steel in Asturias, and to finance the company’s research and development centres in Avilés and Gijón. Finally, the EIB Group has made a strong commitment to sustainable transport, such as signing an agreement for the Burgos-Vitoria high-speed rail line, which will link the Madrid-Valladolid-Burgos route with the Y vasca in the Basque Country, and projects such as the extension of Málaga's metro line 2 or the renovation of the Barcelona Sants station.
All in all, investment in sustainable transport in 2025 increased by 50% compared with 2024. And with all these projects, we are helping to position Spain as a leader in renewables, energy storage and sustainable transport.
Beyond energy security, green investment is essential for climate change adaptation, helping to prevent negative impacts on our cities, agriculture, infrastructure and people’s lives. As I mentioned at the start of my presentation, the torrential rains that have affected much of Spain show just how urgent it is to invest in measures that prevent the negative effects of climate change. Every euro invested in prevention and adaptation saves between five and seven euros in reconstruction costs – not to mention, of course, the losses and damage that can never be recovered, such as the loss of human life.
And this is something we at the European Investment Bank are acutely aware of. A clear example is water.
The EIB Group is one of the world’s largest financiers of water projects. From the drinking water that comes out of our taps, to wastewater treatment, as you can see in the photo, and agricultural irrigation. In Spain, investment in water reached a record level in 2025: €570 million. And we expect to maintain a strong pace of investment in this area in 2026 too, with key projects across Spain. For example, increasing production capacity and improving water quality in Asturias, modernising water infrastructure in 11 municipalities along the Costa del Sol through new pipelines and digitalisation for more efficient water management, and, finally, enlarging the Navarra canal, with clear benefits for the agri-food industry in a region of such importance for Spain. I would also like to highlight that in 2025 we took part in the issue of Europe's first green bond by a water company – Aqualia, a leading Spanish water management firm.
Turning to financing for innovation and technological leadership, the EIB Group is one of Europe’s main engines of innovation, mobilising private investment. As Daniel Calleja mentioned in his introduction, in 2025 the EIB Group became a major player in the capital markets, accounting for 30% of Europe's venture debt and 25% of venture capital fund financing. In fact, in 2025 the EIB Group’s investment in cutting-edge innovation in Spain reached a new record, exceeding €2.8 billion. This includes support for disruptive startups, financing for major cleantech manufacturers, and investment in venture capital funds specialising in deep tech, science and space.
In terms of sectors, the focus in 2025 was on wind technology, advanced automotive technologies, biotechnology, medical technology, security and defence, and space. I think this gives us a clear sense of which sectors are experiencing the strongest growth in Spain.
The European Investment Fund once again played a crucial role in ensuring that talent, ideas, research and science are transformed into technology and concrete projects in the market. Thanks, for example, to the strategic agreement with the Centre for the Development of Technology and Innovation, the CDTI – a pioneering programme in Europe – we are able to boost funds that support technology transfer, moving innovations from research into real-world market applications. As a result of this cooperation with the CDTI, we have already signed an initial operation with the Montana fund – the only paediatric fund in Europe – in the important area of child health. Our commitment to science is clear. In 2025 we also provided technical advisory services for the development of the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) on the island of La Palma. A project which, if realised, will place Europe at the forefront of global astronomical research.
Through our TechEU initiative, we are stepping up these investments, including in clean health technologies and biotechnology.
TechEU is the largest innovation financing programme in Europe, with a target of mobilising €250 billion by 2027. It aims to attract and mobilise private investors, support disruptive innovation and strengthen Europe’s industrial capacity, backing pioneering companies here in Spain – for example in medtech, such as Amadix or Overture Life – two of the operations we signed in 2025. In 2025 we reached cruising speed with the European Tech Champions Initiative. It is a great success.
Through it we have already invested in four Spanish companies, three of them unicorns. Unicorn companies do exist in Europe – there are more and more of them – and at the EIB Group we are determined to finance their growth. One of these investments was signed in 2025: an investment in the Fever platform for the promotion of cultural and entertainment activities. And today I would like to announce the recent signature of an investment in a second Spanish mega fund, Seaya (with an investment target of €1 billion) to support the market for European scaleups, which have traditionally had to turn to foreign capital to grow. This means that two of the 13 European mega funds in which we have invested are in Spain.
So companies, ideas, talent and technologies born in the European Union can grow and thrive here in Europe as well. We are currently working on the second phase of the successful European Tech Champions Initiative so that it can scale and have greater impact by catalysing and mobilising private investment in Europe. I believe Spain is a good example of how the EIB Group's range of financial instruments enables us to support companies' entire growth cycle, from initial conception to development, growth and global expansion as unicorns.
Changing topic now, it is clear – and I think any doubts have been dispelled in recent years – that growth, prosperity and innovation are only possible in a safe and secure environment for people and businesses. As I said earlier, 2025 saw a paradigm shift – a radical change – in security and defence.
We exceeded our own targets, with security and defence investment volumes quadrupling in 2025, already reaching the goal of 5% of total financing for the European Union. And Spain is among the countries that have received the most EIB financing to drive security and defence projects. A record €500 million in financing. We have broadened the scope of the activities financed by the EIB, as I mentioned earlier, so that we are very present in major infrastructure and critical facilities designed to improve military mobility, for example. We are also supporting the development of national industrial capabilities, for example in drone manufacturing and satellite launchers, and are driving research and development of new security and defence technologies. In this area in Spain, the EIB signed two important projects last year: the construction of Indra’s new research centre and innovation by the Spanish multinational Oesía.
Fourth, we are active in support for small and medium-sized enterprises. This is an area in which we have recently signed an agreement with Banco Santander to guarantee access to liquidity for firms of this size in Spain and across Europe. And lastly, the European Investment Fund is acting as an anchor investor to foster the emerging ecosystem of private investment funds, especially those dedicated to the defence sector. There is already an example in Spain: an agreement has been signed with the Nazca fund, which is the largest private equity fund specialising in the aerospace and defence sector in Spain and one of the largest in Europe. In fact, the Nazca fund is already investing actively in the ecosystem of security and defence companies in Spain. It is obvious that all these investments in security and defence also have a multiplier effect in terms of innovation and overall economic growth.
Another area in which the EIB strengthened its support last year is housing. It is undoubtedly a key concern for all Europeans. Two years ago we began work to identify how the EIB could help and support housing development, a field in which responsibilities are fundamentally local and municipal. But thanks to that work with municipalities, Member States, and private investors and companies, we identified three areas in which investment needs to be boosted and where the EIB can facilitate the necessary investment: innovation to develop new technologies and new construction materials; municipality-led building renovation; and the construction of new affordable housing.
In 2025, the EIB provided €4 billion in financing for programmes to build and refurbish affordable, sustainable housing across Europe. We have doubled financing in Spain over the past two years and compared with the previous period, with almost €2 billion to help build nearly 11 000 new homes in the country. Projects are already coming to fruition in the regions of Catalonia, Castilla y León, Valencia and Andalusia. In 2025, specifically, we signed a €113 million loan with the Barcelona city government to finance the construction of nine social rental housing developments in the Catalan capital, bringing the total to more than 2 300 homes in the city. We signed operations with financial intermediaries to expand the supply of financing for energy efficiency and sustainable housing development. And we signed a €45 million loan with ULMA to support innovation and sustainability in the construction sector value chain. Headquartered in the Basque Country, ULMA focuses on developing new materials and on research and innovation in construction.
Healthcare infrastructure has also featured prominently in the EIB Group’s activity in 2025, thanks to loans such as the one signed with the Xunta de Galicia for the University Hospital of A Coruña, which is enabling renewal, expanded capacity and better care for a health area serving over half a million people. And in Catalonia, EIB funds are helping to develop care homes, day centres and assisted living for older people and people with disabilities. As I was saying, we are also supporting private investment funds that are developing and specialising in the health sector.
Let me turn to another core mission of the EIB – truly the core of our EU identity – which is to help reduce regional disparities, build shared prosperity and spur growth across all regions of our Union. Talent is evenly spread across regions, but opportunities are not. In Spain, the EIB Group has contributed to social and territorial cohesion with €6.3 billion in investment in regions with lower per capita income, helping to reduce inequalities, boost social investment and mobilise local potential.
As we anticipated a year ago, 2025 also saw us focus on investments in the agricultural and bioeconomy sector, one of the EIB Group’s eight strategic priorities. This is about strengthening food security, fostering a sustainable food chain and reducing CO₂ emissions – spreading the benefits of growth and prosperity to everyone working in the sector.
In concrete terms, EIB support for 2025 reached a record €1.5 billion, with co-financing agreements with autonomous communities such as Extremadura and Castilla y León, agreements with commercial banks aimed at young farmers, and support for the growth of agri-food SMEs and the transition to more sustainable and profitable models, for example through the EIF’s investment in the Impact Bridge Fund specialised in the agri-food sector, and finally, using instruments such as venture debt to back innovative companies, for example, in developing new foods and healthier, more sustainable food chains. That is the case of Heura Foods, a bioeconomy company that is a pioneer in producing plant-based alternatives to meat.
We are nearing the end of the presentation, but I did not want to finish without a special mention for small and medium-sized enterprises, which are, of course, the heart of the Spanish economy. In 2025, the EIB Group invested €4.2 billion in SMEs – 55% more than the year before.
Specifically, the EIF doubled its support for Spanish SMEs thanks to additional NextGenerationEU funds, focused in particular on promoting innovation, sustainability and modernisation, and on strengthening their competitiveness.
Two in every ten SMEs receiving EIF support in Europe are Spanish. And I should highlight that Spain is the country receiving the most EIF financing for women entrepreneurs via concrete agreements, like that signed last year with CBNK (the company resulting from the merger of Banco Caminos and Bancofar) to back women entrepreneurs in the Spanish pharmaceutical sector. It is the EIB’s first intermediated financing programme dedicated entirely to women-led projects. And CBNK is among the Spanish banks that have joined the Gender Finance Lab, the first advisory programme for commercial banks on how to improve access to finance for women entrepreneurs. This initiative already includes 42 European banks, six of them Spanish.
In the previous slide, the photos showed some of the SME projects financed by the EIB in 2025. And on this map you can see some of the examples I mentioned of the most representative projects across the country. From the electrical interconnector with Redeia between Spain, Portugal and France via the Bay of Biscay; to the Salto de Chira project in the Canary Islands; the ArcelorMittal project in Asturias; Navantia’s projects in Galicia and Andalusia; sustainable transport projects in Castilla y León; support for innovative companies and unicorns such as Fever, which is based in Madrid but in reality operates across Europe and worldwide, as is the case with all startups; investment in early cancer detection through blood testing at research centres in Valladolid, Madrid and Seville; research and development of next-generation aerospace technologies with research centres in Madrid, Catalonia, Galicia, Castilla y León, Castilla-La Mancha, Valencia and Andalusia; social housing projects in Barcelona; innovation in construction materials in the Basque Country; the University Hospital of A Coruña in Galicia; the expansion of alternatives to meat such as plant-based cheese; the snack manufacturing I mentioned with the Heura Foods Group in Catalonia; support for female entrepreneurship throughout Spain; and, of course, all the funds nationwide financed with NextGenerationEU funds.
I would like to conclude the presentation by speaking about a topic closely linked to Spain: the drive to build global partnerships. One of the European Union’s strengths is its network of partnerships and trade and investment agreements with strategic partners around the world. This is part of Europe’s identity. In a world where some build walls, we build bridges, seeking shared prosperity with our partners. The EIB is one of the world’s largest development banks, and our investments are significant there too: from Ukraine to Africa, from the Middle East to the Americas. Beyond the European Union, our top priority is currently support for Ukraine, of course, but last year we also strengthened our partnership with Latin America and the Caribbean, where our investments underpin major infrastructure in energy, transport, telecommunications and water.
This slide shows some examples from 2025. At the European Union-CELAC summit in Santa Marta, Colombia last November, we announced a historic €1 billion in investment to support energy integration in Central America. This comes in addition to major investments in water and sewerage in Ecuador; sustainable transport infrastructure such as electric trains in San José, Costa Rica; support for renewable energy in Colombia; and the power grid in Panama. I wanted to highlight this because these are projects in which Spanish companies play a very important role.
In the case of the power grid in Panama, for example, this is a loan to Naturgy with guarantees from CESCE. The partnership we have with CESCE – the Spanish export credit insurance company – is very important because it opens the door to greater activity by Spanish companies in major infrastructure projects worldwide. We also signed agreements to promote and modernise power distribution in Brazil, granting a loan to Iberdrola. And all of this shows the important role played by Spanish companies in the region and the sustained impetus from EU institutions over time, from the expansion of the Panama Canal to the metro lines in Bogotá, Quito and São Paulo and, more recently, the strengthening of all electricity interconnections in the Central American region.
Well, this has been a summary of the EIB Group’s activity in 2025, my second year as president of the EIB. It was a landmark year in which the Group reinforced its role in projecting Europe’s voice around the world. Each of the projects we finance, ultimately, turns the idea of Europe into a tangible reality on the ground, and I believe all these examples demonstrate the role and commitment of the European Union in contributing to and driving shared prosperity, security and democratic values across our European Union and around the world.
This comes at a time when it is more important than ever that we – the EU institutions represented here today – work together with the Member States, with financial partners and with the private sector to continue fostering the growth we have been able to achieve over these eight decades of activity across the European Union. And, in our country’s case, since we signed the accession treaty in 1986 – something that I believe fills us all with pride and emotion.
I will end the presentation here and will be delighted to take your questions. Thank you.