President Calviño at the Board Seminar with Civil Society 2025

Hello everyone. I am really grateful to all of you for coming. I think that this is a unique opportunity that we have every once in a while to see each other, to talk to each other, which marks the passing of time, but also allows us to take stock of an engagement with civil society, which is actually our modus operandi.

As an institution, we want to be open, we want to listen, we want to engage with you, we want to take on your ideas, when we shape our policies, when we design our programmes. And as management committee together with my fellow vice presidents, we are constantly travelling around in Europe and beyond. We are meeting with government officials, we are also meeting with clients. We are meeting with civil society representatives. We want to see our projects on the ground. We want to know our impact on the ground. And I think that is a part of our DNA, if I may put it this way, which makes us stronger.

And let me say, and it's going to sound like we always say the same, but I think it is not an exaggeration, and it is really substantive, but I'm going to say right now: your role is more important than ever. I was actually just discussing that with one of our most honoured participants today coming directly from Ukraine, how important it is that civil society is alert, that we have a vibrant civil society in Europe and beyond.

Why is civil society more important than ever? Because we are really at a turning point in history. There is a very deep transformation happening of the global order that guided us since the end of World War II. It is a time of deep change, and we are just back from the annual meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund in Washington, and these have been quite unique, quite special last week.

We feel around us that there is this sense of volatility, instability. Old strategic partnerships are crumbling down, new partnerships are maybe emerging. New focus of power is emerging around the world. And this uncertainty is bringing anxiety to citizens and to businesses all around the world.

Now, in this context, the message that we conveyed from the European institutions, the message from Europe was loud and clear. We stand firm, we stand and we support multilateralism. We stand for cooperation, for win-win partnerships. So, when some are moving away from the multilateral rules-based framework, Europe is actually moving forward, or rather the rest of the world is moving forward. We are renewing our commitment to partnerships that are based on mutual respect and peace. And our partners around the world are calling on Europe to play this role. That's why I say the rest of the world is moving forward.

And in this context, the role of the European Investment Bank is quite unique also, because we are the financing arm of the European Union, but also at the heart of the multilateral development bank family. We are therefore very much oriented to support the role of Europe and a strong voice of Europe in the world, a role of Europe as a beacon of stability, of trust, of confidence, of the protection of human rights, the protection of minorities, the rule of law, our democratic values.

And we are uniquely positioned to do so right now because with our €600 billion balance sheet and our stellar AAA rating, we have a strong financial position, because we are pan-European by design and we have operations in every corner of our union and in many countries around the world.

We are quite unique because our shareholders are the 27 Member States, neither more nor less, and this is probably the one point in history when this really matters. And we have a €100 billion more or less annual operations of which 10% outside the EU, as you know. And we are quite oriented towards delivering on eight strategic priorities which have been unanimously supported by our shareholders and are fully aligned with the shared priorities of the European Union.

Priority number one, consolidating our role as the climate bank. And this is not irrelevant because we are at the point in history and I have lived it firsthand, we have lived it firsthand last week in many quarters, words like climate, women, gender are revolutionary. I even learned in Washington that we cannot longer – we can, but the rest of the world cannot use an expression like – root causes, because it has a political meaning of some sort.

So, a lot of words are being banned and that makes us especially proud to actually keep the course and in all international gatherings talk about climate, talk about women's empowerment, we talk about gender equality, we talk about supporting development finance. We talk about win-win partnerships, and if needed, root causes. What do I know?

And these words are really being, as I said, revolutionary. Some other institutions can no longer use them. So, consolidating our role as the climate bank, I think, is quite an important message. As you know, only two, three weeks ago, our Board adopted unanimously the Climate Bank Roadmap to 2030, building on the very strong success of the first phase. So that we have three key messages in this second phase of the roadmap.

First, to focus on those projects that contribute the most to Europe's competitiveness, technological leadership, security, and also reducing energy prices for families and businesses. Secondly, to double our financing for adaptation to climate change. As you know very well, every euro we invest in prevention, resilience, adaptation, saves five to seven euros in repair and damages. So, it's a no-brainer. It's not only the right thing to do, it is also the smart thing to do that we invest in adaptation inside and outside the Union.

And thirdly, radical simplification. And what do we mean by radical simplification? It means no gold plating, it means reliance on existing rules, reporting standards, reporting obligations and standards. And it also means more self-assessment, relying on the green checkers that we have been developing so that we reduce the cost and the burdens, particularly for small and medium-sized companies. So, at the end of the day, what we want is that by 2030, we make climate and competitiveness a winning tandem for Europe.

Second top priority is supporting European technological leadership. We have launched a TechEU programme to mobilise €250 billion by 2027 in areas like artificial intelligence, quantum computing, cleantech, health, digital infrastructures. Actually, we are about to sign with the European Commission an agreement to join forces in financing artificial intelligence gigafactories here in Europe.

And this is, again, very much linked to our values, because at a time when some research areas are being banned on the other side of the Atlantic, Europe can be a sanctuary for research, for ideas, bringing talent back to the EU in very important areas like health, where the European Union is already a technological leader. Which brings me to my third priority; defending democracy, making sure that our citizens can live in peace and security. It is very clear that Europe needs to reinforce its strategic autonomy, and it means that we need to step up our support to Europe's security and defence capabilities.

We are on track to reach 3.5% of our financing this year in this area of security and defence. I look forward to the discussion of our leaders in the summit later in the week and see how they intend to go about and to drive this new priority area to ensure that we have peace in the EU and on our continent and beyond.

Let me mention the five other top priorities. We are on track for another record financing of cohesion policy. That is bringing, at the end of the day, bring an opportunity where talent is, because we know that talent is equally distributed. Large, small Member States, more prosperous, less prosperous Member States, North, South, East, West, new, old Member States, talent is equally distributed but opportunities are not. And that is why we need to bring opportunity where talent is. And that is what cohesion policy is about. And we are really proud that this is at the core of our mandate and that almost 50% of our finance last year inside the Union went to cohesion regions.

Likewise, when we talk about social infrastructure, which is underpinning the European economic model like housing, is a new area where we are really boosting our financial support. Our Board tomorrow is going to actually discuss and, I hope, approve a pioneering new €400 million programme to support innovation, because housing and building sector is an area where we also need to innovate new materials, new building techniques so that houses can be built faster and cheaper and in a more sustainable manner. We are also one of the largest financiers of health, education, and research infrastructure. I'm sure that Andrew will talk about it when we talk about what we are doing in particular in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Around 10% of our financing is deployed for projects outside the EU. We have just adopted, also with unanimous support by our shareholders, the new EIB Global strategic orientation. I will leave it to my colleagues to explain more in detail. But at the end of the day, what we want to convey is that in a time when everything becomes transactional, that's another fashion of the world around us, trust is actually the most valuable asset that we have and we are determined to continue to position Europe as a trusted partner, a reliable partner that looks for win-win outcomes.

Nowhere is this a role more important than in Ukraine. We have reached cruising speed in the financing of projects to make sure that we are rebuilding what is destroyed and we're building back better so that we can contribute to the country's resilience and to a very strong recovery. I spent actually last week in Washington saying to everybody, including on TV, how confident I am that Ukraine is going to have an amazing bouncing back once the war is over, because we have seen the country, we know their citizens. And I am, as I said at the beginning, particularly honoured that we have today here, Oleksandra Matviichuk, the chair of the Centre for Civil Liberties, which was the recipient of the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize, and she is with us today. And I want to ask all of you for a round of applause because she's such an inspiration to us.

She will tell us about the role of civil society in Ukraine, where we have seen actually there is a very vibrant civil society, whether it was the demonstrations in Maidan Square, whether, more recently actually, influencing decisions by the government. And that shows how important it is that besides institutions, we do have vibrant civil society organisations that can carry these democratic values forward.

Let me close with three main thoughts. First is that we need to understand that the world of yesterday is not coming back and change is the new normal. So, we need to look forward, adapt, reset, adjust. And that is what we are doing at the European Investment Bank, and that requires us to keep alert, to open our ears and our eyes to listen to what's going on around us in Europe and beyond. And that is why our engagement with civil society is so important.

Secondly, it is in times of noise and trouble and conflict, it's very important to go back to basics. We cannot take for granted what we had until now in terms of peace, in terms of strong institutions, respect to those institutions, rules-based international world order.

We cannot take for granted that the system is fair, but we need to work every day to ensure that that is the case for citizens in Europe and beyond. We need to show to our citizens that European institutions are efficient, that our system is fair, and that a better future is within reach. That the promise of prosperity that comes from the European Union is going to continue to deliver for them in the future. I am persuaded that that's going to be the case, but it's very important that we show it and that we communicate and you are also speakers in that regard to explain what we do and how we make a difference on the ground.

And thirdly, it's very important to keep perspective, because daily work absorbs us and we are busy with delivering on our chores and our tasks, but it is very important to realise. And sometimes we watch the news and the news are daunting. It's overwhelming, isn't it? But when we look back, we realise that actually war and conflict was the normal situation in Europe. Until 80 years ago, we were killing each other very effectively. So, it is only in the last eight decades that we have established a framework that actually supports this peace and prosperity for all in Europe. And throughout history, there are always periods that are darker and then comes the light. So, it's very important to keep this perspective and to understand that when we act together, governments, institutions, civil society, the private sector, we are unstoppable.

Our unity and our resilience is actually what gives me confidence for the future. And let me leave you with these thoughts and this very strong message. In a world where people are building walls, from the European Investment Bank we will continue to build bridges. Bridges between societies, between generations. Bridges to a better future for all.

I leave you with this thought and let me just say a short word to thank my colleagues that are going to be speaking today. Vice-President Ambroise Fayolle, Vice-President Karl Nehammer, Vice-President Marek Mora, who has just joined the European Investment Bank, and of course Secretary-General Barbara Balke, Andrew McDowell, and other colleagues that are going to be sharing their thoughts with you in the course of the day. I wish you a very productive exchange, and thank you very much.