Vice-President Mourinho marks 10th anniversary of European Long-Term Investors

Querido José Carlos, Dear distinguished guests and speakers, Dear colleagues and friends, Muy buenas tardes,

It is a pleasure to be here. It is a particular honour to have the opportunity to speak at the 10th anniversary of the European Long-Term Investors Association (ELTIA).

The European Investment Bank is a proud founding member of European Long-Term Investors (ELTI) since 2013, when EIB President Werner Hoyer became the first president of the association until 2016.

Let me take this opportunity to thank Laurent for his work and to wish Dario Scannapieco all the best in his new endeavor.

Rest assured that the European Investment Bank (EIB) remains a reliable, supportive and committed partner, and permanent observer to the association. National promotional banks and institutions are our key natural partners here in Europe.

The EIB is the Bank of the European Union and of its citizens. The EIB is your bank. 

Cohesion more than a statutory mission is in our DNA. Promoting harmonious and balanced growth in Europe is of paramount importance in view of the challenges we face. And you are key partners to successfully develop a more sustainable, inclusive and prosperous Europe for all. Promoting equal opportunities for all. Fostering gender equality.

We see European and national public financial institutions as part of a family. As partners to meet European citizens ambitions. An European team devoted to a common purpose.

This common purpose will be the focus of my remarks before esteemed panellists discuss the “Global challenges for Europe.”

The challenges we face fuel one another in a vicious circle – from pandemic to war, from climate change to the digital divide, from the disruption of value chains to inflation.

At the same time, our economies are at record employment levels and benefiting from the largest EU funded investment programme ever, Next Generation EU. This reveals the support good EU policy can provide in crisis times. A truly counter-cyclical policy response.

We need to make ends meet to overcome the vicious circle. By using public monies to crowd in private resources. This is the core of the mission of those of us who gathered here.

Our role, as public financial institutions, is to address common challenges. To mobilise public and private resources to investments that fulfil collective goals and ambitions.

Still today, our economies are largely powered by fossil fuels. And we have known for long now that this is the main cause of greenhouse gas emissions and climate change. The European Union Green Deal set the path to a transition to a carbon-free Europe by 2050 and set ambitious interim targets for 2030. Clean energy technologies are now often cheaper and faster to rollout than fossil-based ones. But still, our economies are largely based on fossil fuels.

The war of aggression against Ukraine disrupted the energy commodities market and exposed our vulnerabilities to the limit. This war and the weaponisation of energy commodities transformed a political priority into an economic emergency. The energy crunch of the last year was the alarm bell. Europe did not make the green transition priority enough on our agenda.

This was the same short-sightedness that made Europe complacent to geo-political dependencies on critical raw materials. Our supply chains are still completely dominated by a small number of suppliers. A dangerous oligopoly with no effective regulation. A poisoning combination. Now we see how vulnerable this made us.

In the same vein, we built health systems and we relied on pharmaceutical products and medical equipment supply chains that were broadly efficient for normal times. Unfortunately, they revealed not resilient in pandemic times. We thought that backups and redundancies were too expensive. And we paid the price for that during the pandemic.

Similarly, we didn’t move fast enough to address climate change. Now we see the consequences: wildfires, desertification, water scarcity, extreme heatwaves and floods.

It is actually action for the public good, as opposed to complacency and procrastination which pays off. 

It is now time to up our game, to double our efforts. That’s why the European Investment Bank signed more than €17 billion in new financing for clean energy inside the EU in 2022 – more than ever before. And that’s why we committed another €45 billion until 2027 in additional funds to support REPowerEU.

The EU plan designed to eliminate our dependence on fossil-fuel imports must be front loaded. This energy transition is not just necessary to stave off catastrophic climate change. It is also a critical security priority for our Union.

And since I mentioned security, the European Investment Bank has also raised its commitment to security financing to €8 billion by 2027 under our Strategic European Security Initiative. This is more than we have ever done before.

This money will be spent on dual-use cybersecurity, satellites and the breakthrough technologies that the EU needs to protect its sovereignty. We have recently signed financing deals with Leonardo and Airbus. So, our support benefits our industry, as we face together the challenge of increasing geopolitical and military tensions.

But fostering European sovereignty goes well beyond protecting our borders. It also means standing up for our values beyond our shores. We cannot tolerate this unjustified war of aggression by Russia against freedom, human rights and sovereignty.

Ukraine is the victim. The first victim. In Ukraine, the European Investment Bank disbursed close to €2 billion in financing last year, in close cooperation with national promotional banks sitting here today.

We have started a few days after the invasion began, to help the Ukrainian economy to stay afloat. We have also set up with ELTI and the five largest national promotional banks a joint initiative in support of Ukrainian refugees. Until the end of 2022 this initiative provided much-needed finance in excess of €3 billion.

But more is needed. This is why we recently launched the EU For Ukraine Trust Fund to enable Member States, the Commission and other donors to support reconstruction and recovery. Reconstruction must start now to restore the basic living conditions of millions of Ukrainians fighting for freedom.

To date, 16 Member States have announced contributions of over €400 million. Spain is in the forefront, contributing with €70 million. Let me take this opportunity to thank you and the Spanish government for your commitment. The size of the fund is expected to grow further with future commitments by other countries. Because again, we need even more. 

Dear all,

The fight for our values is not limited to Ukraine. The European Investment Bank is an instrument for the delivery of EU policy goals across the world. That means supporting sustainable growth, free from geo-strategic dependencies. That’s why we launched EIB Global last year – a dedicated branch for operations across the world.

I am pleased to report that EIB Global is well on track to support more than €100 billion in investments for Global Gateway projects.This is the key EU flagship initiative for sustainable growth.

Short-sighted self-interest may make some wonder: why spend money for investment in far corners of the world? And our answer is clear. Because as the EU Bank, globally, the European Investment Bank is an investment bridge between regions and their citizens, and this is a key component in the EU’s value proposition.

Through the Global Gateway Initiative, we support sound projects that improve global and regional connectivity in the digital, climate, transport, health, energy and education sectors.

Earlier this week, we participated at the EU CELAC summit. The European Union is the largest investor in Latin America and the Caribbean, and the region's second largest trading partner. In the region, we have already signed 16 Global Gateway Initiative contracts in the region, totalling €2 billion, and we expect to mobilise more than €5 billion in the coming years. Last year, almost 80% of our operations in the region were devoted to climate mitigation and adaptation projects.

Beyond the metrics, this means that the economic development of one region has a direct impact on the prosperity of the other. Common challenges require common action.

How will we stop the next pandemic if we don’t finance the construction of vaccine-production facilities in Sub-Saharan Africa, as EIB Global does? How can we expect to avoid mass, uncontrolled migration waves, if people lack access to drinking water in their countries? How can we mitigate climate change, if we don’t finance clean energy projects outside the European Union, where 90% of the world’s emissions generates from?

Dear friends,

There are a lot of discussions these days about the European Union’s strategic autonomy. The European Investment Bank Group has been doing its part to safeguard this autonomy. An open strategic autonomy.

Autonomy can only be secured if we have reliable, trustworthy partners in Europe, and across the world. Not just for trade and economic relations, but to address our common challenges. To share values, but also to share value. As true partners for development.

What does this mean in practice? It means partners who share our values: rule of law, freedom, and equal rights for all. Partners who also fight for the future of the planet, for sustainable growth, and for peaceful conflict resolution.

We need to realise that we are all on the same boat. We either rise to the challenges we are facing together, or we sink miserably together.

I am confident that public institutions, like the European Investment Bank and our European partner institutions gathered here today, are fully devoted to serve common interest.

I am now looking very much forward to listening to the upcoming panel discussion with distinguished guests and speakers. Beata Daszyńska-Muzyczka, CEO of BGK, who has just been nominated as special representative of the president of the Republic of Poland for the Three Seas Initiative; Stefan Wintels, CEO of KfW; Edgardo Alvarez, Secretary General of ALIDE; and Isabel Rioja-Scott, Counsellor for Economic Affairs at the US Embassy in Spain.

Let me now hand over the floor to Laurent Zylberberg, the long serving president of the ELTI and moderator of this panel. Today, here is the beginning of a great adventure for Dario and for all of us.

Thank you very much for your time and attention.