President Calviño presents the EIB Group's activities in Portugal for 2025

I want to introduce all the other people that are on a day-to-day basis working here in Portugal, identifying the projects and also supporting the public sector and the companies. And it is a very special presentation, and it is a special, very special year for us to do the presentation, because we are also celebrating 40 years since Portugal joined the European Union.

And it is interesting to note that it is 40 years since Portugal joined the EU but 50 years since the European Investment Bank started operating in the country. So, when Portugal joined the EU, the EIB was already here. And that is quite remarkable because it symbolises, it represents a close partnership that has only grown and thrived in the course of the decades. And also, I think the very important role that the European Investment Bank Group has played in supporting the prosperity of the growth of Portugal, as the minister has highlighted in his introduction.

So, wherever there is a major flagship project of national significance, you’ll very likely find a European flag. And you will very likely find the financing from the European Investment Bank behind. There are just some examples represented in this slide that are quite illustrative: The Vasco da Gama Bridge, the first European floating offshore wind farm, Windfloat Atlantic, just about 20 km off the town of Viana do Castelo, the support to the Lisbon Drainage Master Plan, whose construction works I had the opportunity to listen to this morning.

When it was needed, support provided to Madeira after the disastrous floods of the 2010s is ongoing and gives support for affordable and social housing construction and renovation across the country, the flagship campus of Nova School of Business and Economics in Carcavelos and the three Portuguese unicorns invested by the European Investment Fund, Sword Health, Remote and Anchorage, in partnership with Banco Português de Fomento. So, in short, the European Investment Bank is there where it is needed, helping to build a more prosperous and more modern economy in Portugal and support to the democratic process throughout these decades.

Let me provide a bit of context before getting into the numbers in Portugal by presenting an overview of the EIB Group activity in 2025. When the world order is obviously entering a new phase, the European Investment Bank is supporting the European Union's policy priorities with real financial fire power that makes a difference on the ground. And 2025 has been an extraordinarily successful year from this perspective.

With a record €100 billion in finance and an all-time record in six key areas: energy networks and storage, innovation to reinforce Europe's technological leadership, security and defence, the expansion of affordable housing, and financing for agriculture and the bioeconomy as well as support to Ukraine.

So, a record year overall and a record year in these six key areas and that has been possible thanks to the unanimous support of our shareholders that last year approved not only the Strategic Roadmap but also the possibility to increase the maximum ceiling already by European Investment Bank so that we can use the fire power that comes from our very sustainable and robust business model, AAA rating, a very robust balance sheet of over €600 billion making the EIB the largest multilateral financial institution. So, this is the context, this is the backdrop for the European Investment Bank’s activities and I'm turning specifically to Portugal. As the minister already said, 2025 was a record year of activity of the EIB Group in the country.

Our financing and investment activity reached €3 billion and that means a 43% increase as compared to the previous year. One of the strongest years throughout the history in the country. And this investment by the EIB Group is expected to unlock around €12 billion in total investment into projects which represents close to 4% of Portugal's GDP.

I have to tell you; this is the highest share per GDP of all the Member States. So, the impact of the EIB in Portugal is the largest in the 27 Member States in 2025. And this extraordinary figure is even more impressive if we look at how this has been deployed and supported record financing for housing, climate, transport across all the sectors of the Portuguese economy.

Climate action is at historic highs. They have been at the centre of our work consolidating our role as the Climate Bank. In Portugal, this means €2.1 billion. That's almost €7 out of the €10 invested in Portugal. 7 out of 10 went to support the green transition.

We backed the decarbonisation of industries, upgraded electricity grids, energy efficiency in public and private business. Flagship projects included the Navigator company's decarbonisation programme, energy efficiency upgrades across 400 retail stores, EDP’s power grids expansion and modernisation or energy efficiency investments in public schools across the country.

These investments strengthen Portugal's resilience and ability to cope with the impact of climate change, which – I don’t need to explain – were of importance after the floods that were suffered in this year.

By the way, it is a pleasure to announce that the EIB Group has been working from day one, putting up a package of support through the country to try to finance as soon as possible and recover as soon as possible the normality in those regions that were most directly affected by the floods. And we are finalising negotiations to provide €1 billion in finance to be approved in April with two pillars: up to €300 million to reconstruct damaged infrastructure – so that's a loan to the Portuguese Republic – and up to €750 million of intermediated credit lines for small and medium-sized companies and mid-caps with commercial banks, and backing Portugal’s momentum. So, the EIB is there where it's needed, as I said and that is providing counter-cyclical support, strategic long-term and large investments, and also supporting the reconstruction of the country after the catastrophe and the situation, such as the one that was suffered recently with the floods.

Moving to another of the key elements of the DNA of the EIB, the cohesion policy. The EIB Group has doubled down on the green transition, and at the same time, has reinforced its commitment to foster economic, social and regional conditions. So, mobilising investment where it is supposed to be, bringing opportunity to each and every region of our Union. In 2025, the EIB Group provided €2.4 billion in finance for cohesion in Portugal, and this represents almost 80% of our total investment in the country.

2025 was also a record year for social infrastructure. We delivered more than €1 billion to support social infrastructure in Portugal, and that includes €750 million for affordable housing, a record figure to support the National Affordable Housing Programme. So, this will help build and renovate around 12 000 homes across the country.

Some of the units, by the way, are already being delivered in Oeiras, Amadora, close to Lisbon, also Porto and Caia. And I am pleased to announce today that we are planning to scale-up our commitment to housing in Portugal, with a new €1.5 billion package, now focused on supporting social housing. We expect that our Board directors will approve this in March, with a strong focus on retrofitting existing buildings so that we can provide affordable social housing across the country.

Within this reinforced support for social infrastructure, the EIB also signed in 2025 €300 million to modernise public schools, improving learning conditions and energy efficiency for communities nationwide. I know this is also a top priority for the mayor of Lisbon. Very tangible examples of how the EIB is making a difference on the ground.

Moving to another very strategic area for the country, 2025 was also a very good year for transport, as I mentioned already. In particular, with the signature of the flagship Lisbon–Porto high-speed rail line. We have provided close to €1 billion in finance to support more sustainable transport models, and it will not be a surprise for you that this has been one of the key or one of the flagship investments of the EIB in Portugal in decades.

Our first tranche of the €3 billion loan that the EIB approved to support the first phase of this infrastructure is already ongoing. And of course the project, when concluded, when finished, is going to reduce travel times in a very significant manner for citizens, also connecting those two very important points of economic activity in Portugal.

We also boosted innovation with a record close to €500 million invested into innovation, technological innovation, startups. The EIF is playing a crucial role in strengthening Portugal's venture capital ecosystem. In 2025, we supported three equity funds: Indico, focused on early-stage companies in artificial intelligence, deeptech, spacetech and oceantech, Vibe Capital and Crest to boost growth of Portuguese small and medium-sized companies.

The fund managers, selected by the European Investment Fund, make extraordinary contributions to high-end innovation, backing ambitious Portuguese startups across these areas of artificial intelligence, deeptech, biotech, climate technologies. A recent example is the investment by the Biovance fund in Mondego Bio in 2025, an innovative cancer-treatment company in Portugal.

The EIB is also contributing to innovation and competitiveness in the country with direct loans to support cleantech that accelerates the decarbonisation of the industry or the digital transformation of electricity grids.

Now coming to an end, but last but not least, I want to flag the support of the European Investment Bank Group to small and medium-sized companies which are the backbone of the Portuguese economy. Small and medium-sized companies remain a cornerstone, a focal point for the European Investment Bank. In 2025, we committed over €500 billion to support small and medium-sized companies. And that means that more than 10 000 companies benefited from finance from the European Investment Bank Group and around 245 000 jobs were supported by this financing.

We have reinforced our partnership with commercial banks to make financing more accessible across sectors and regions. For example, the agreement with Santander Totta, dedicated to supporting SMEs in the agricultural sector in Portugal with a specific target to support young farmers.

A major milestone last year to support small and medium-sized companies was the signature of an initiative to mobilise €6.5 billion via guarantees. And this is thanks to the contribution of the Portuguese Recovery and Resilience Plan.

The NextGenerationEU plan which was integrated, inserted into the national compartment of an existing European instrument, InvestEU and complemented by the European Investment Fund, which allowed us, together with Banco Português de Fomento, to very rapidly deploy these NextGenerationEU funds and channel financing to SMEs and mid-caps across the country. As we were just discussing with the Minister, Portugal has been a front-runner in terms of efficient use of the Recovery and Resilience Facility in the NextGenerationEU loans to support small and medium-sized companies in the country.

Finally, I'd like to take an opportunity to mention the EIB Group activities outside the EU, building international partnerships. Obviously, one of the key strengths of the European Union is the network of trade and investment agreements and political and social partnerships that we have around the world. And this is part of Europe's identity. This is part of Portugal's identity. I like to give this image that in this world, when we are talking about building walls, we are building bridges across the world, reinforcing those partnerships that can bring competitiveness, prosperity, security and peace to Europe.

Now, as I mentioned already, the European Investment Bank is one of the largest multilateral financial institutions in the world. The areas that we are talking about right now – from Ukraine to Africa, from the Middle East to the Americas – are the priority in terms of partnerships supporting shared prosperity.

Whether it is investing in key infrastructures in energy, transport, telecommunications or water, the EIB will continue to play a key role at the heart of the Multilateral Development Banks family.

Now, this slide shows some relevant projects from 2025 in Portuguese-speaking countries, like financing to support women entrepreneurs and electricity grids in Brazil, investments in wind power expansion and battery storage in Cabo Verde or financing of programmes for cervical cancer protection in Angola.

And with this, I conclude the presentation of the EIB Group activity in Portugal in 2025, an extraordinary year where each of the projects that we have financed is having a positive impact for businesses and citizens in Portugal, from housing and education to climate action mobility, innovation, regional development, support to SMEs.

Our financing is helping shape a stronger, more prosperous and more sustainable economy. So, 50 years after we started the operations in the country, I can only share the pride and satisfaction of seeing that all these examples are a good demonstration of our strong commitment to the country. And that, I am sure, will continue in 2026 and beyond.