UKRAINE SOLIDARITY PACKAGE - PROGRAMME EU MS

Programme Loan aimed to finance investments in EU Member States incurred in relation to the Ukrainian crisis.

The Operation aims to finance urban and regional investments in EU Member States in response to the Ukrainian conflict and in particular to provide adequate infrastructure to accommodate the large number of refugees, predominantly women, children and elderly persons, fleeing the country. The Operation is expected to contribute to new construction, refurbishment and extension of infrastructures, thereby increasing the capacity of cities and regions to adequately respond to the needs of refugees and hosting communities.

The Operation supports efforts from the European Commission, Member States, sub-sovereign public authorities and other public sector entities to respond to the Ukrainian conflict and the current refugee crisis. In particular, the Operation is expected to support investments in social infrastructures related to the adoption of the Temporary Protection Directive. It also supports the achievement of most UN Sustainable Development Goals . It is in line with the provisions of the 2020 New Leipzig Charter, the EU Urban Agenda, the 2022 Nice Declaration and the EIB Urban Lending Review and it is aligned with the EU Energy Performance of Building Directive and the EU Green Deal.

The proposed Programme Loan is expected to have a very strong positive signalling effect towards the financial markets and positively influence the respective borrowers' capacity to raise additional funds despite the volatile financial environment. The Programme Loan approach is proposed to streamline and speed-up the decision-making process, allowing the Bank to provide swift and flexible support to the counterparts in all EU countries. Lastly, this Operations will be accompanied by a tailor-made Advisory Platform, which is expected to deliver advisory services to public sector counterparts a in support of project preparation and implementation as well as capacity building as appropriate.

Compliance with the relevant EU Directives will be verified during individual appraisal of the underlying sub-operations: EU EIA Directive 2011/92/EU amended by 2014/52/EU, EU SEA Directive 2001/42/EC, EU Habitats Directive 92/43/EEC and EU Birds Directive 2009/147/EC. The status of any environmental studies and public consultations related to the investments as well as the alignment of energy efficiency requirements with the EU Directive on the Energy Performance of Buildings 2010/31/EU will be further assessed during project appraisal.

The Bank will require the Promoters to ensure that contracts for the implementation of the project have been and will be tendered in accordance with the relevant applicable EU procurement legislation, Directives 2014/23/EU and 2014/24/EU, where applicable, as well as Directive 89/665/EEC as interpreted by the Court of Justice of the EU, with publication of tender notices in the Official Journal of the EU, as and where required.