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REPORT (2023/2229(INI))

On the financial activities of the European Investment Bank - annual report 2023

A-9-2024-0031

Committee on Budgets · Rapporteur: David Cormand

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✦ In short · AI summary of this text, generated 18 Oct 2026

Written by a language model from the full text only; every figure comes from the text. The paragraph links open the paragraph a statement rests on — check the text itself before relying on it.

Parliament's resolution on the European Investment Bank's (EIB) financial activities in 2023 reviews the EIB Group's lending and sets out policy demands on climate, social inclusion, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), Ukraine, EIB Global, transparency and governance. It calls for a capital increase, a stronger social role, full alignment with the Paris Agreement and biodiversity goals, and more support for SMEs, innovation and digitalisation. It welcomes the EU for Ukraine initiative and asks for higher EU budget guarantees for EIB operations in Ukraine and the Global South, and for more EIB support to European defence. It asks the EIB to improve transparency, accountability to Parliament, tax-fraud prevention and gender balance, and to implement the European Ombudsman's recommendations.

Committee position. The Committee on Budgets proposes a resolution that reviews the EIB's 2023 activities and calls for a capital increase, stronger climate and biodiversity standards, more SME and social support, continued backing for Ukraine and EIB Global, and better transparency and accountability.

Key points

  1. Reiterates the EIB's role as the EU public bank owned by member states and calls for a capital increase to provide more long-term repayable support and innovative instruments.
  2. Stresses that the EIB must keep its AAA credit rating and the confidence of capital markets.
  3. Calls on the EIB to address regional imbalances, and invites the Commission to assess whether InvestEU financing is geographically balanced, especially for smaller member states.
  4. Calls on the EIB to support social infrastructure such as affordable housing, healthcare, public transport, culture and education, and to prioritise projects for vulnerable people and citizen-led projects.
  5. Welcomes the EIB meeting its target of at least half of resources for climate action and expects the 2024 Climate Bank Roadmap review to align it with the 1.5 degree pathway and climate neutrality by 2050.
  6. Welcomes the increase in EIB support to REPowerEU to EUR 45 billion in loans and equity, and expects exemptions under the Paris Alignment of counterparties (PATH) framework to be exceptional and temporary.
  7. Expects the EIB to check corporate clients' decarbonisation plans before new commitments and to work only with financial intermediaries with credible plans by 2025, without harming SME access to finance.
  8. Calls on the EIB to lower minimum loan amounts for just transition projects, and welcomes its environmental and social policy shift from 'no net loss' to 'no loss' of biodiversity.
  9. Calls on the EIB to invest more in critical raw materials, especially recycling and circular economy, and to support hydrogen while ensuring additionality and protecting water and biodiversity.
  10. Calls on the EIB Group to simplify procedures, provide more growth and venture capital for SMEs and start-ups, and step up investment in digitalisation, artificial intelligence (AI) and worker upskilling.
  11. Welcomes the EU for Ukraine initiative, calls for higher EU budget guarantees for EIB operations in Ukraine and the Global South, and asks the EIB to enhance support to the European defence industry.
  12. Asks the EIB to publish more project information, conclude an interinstitutional agreement with Parliament, strengthen its policy against tax fraud and evasion, and improve gender balance in senior positions.

Who is affected

  • The EIB and the European Investment Fund (EIF): asked to change lending, risk-taking, transparency and staffing practices.
  • Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and start-ups: to receive simpler procedures and more growth and venture capital.
  • Ukraine and recipient countries of EIB Global: to benefit from reconstruction finance and development investments.
  • Corporate clients and financial intermediaries: required to have credible Paris alignment strategies.
  • EU regions and smaller member states: to benefit from efforts to balance the geographical distribution of financing.

Figures and deadlines

  • EUR 1 trillion a year in investments needed in the EU to achieve its climate targets.
  • InvestEU's EUR 26.2 billion guarantee is expected to mobilise more than EUR 372 billion in additional investment.
  • EIB support to REPowerEU increased to EUR 45 billion in loans and equity financing.
  • In 2022 the EIB Group provided financing for a total investment of EUR 16.35 billion for SMEs and mid-caps.
  • EIB Group debt support to SMEs totalled almost EUR 20 billion in annual net signatures between 2010 and 2020.
  • The EU's 23 million SMEs account for 99 % of all businesses and provide around three quarters of all jobs.
  • EIB Global delivered over EUR 10 billion in 2022 and is expected to facilitate at least one third of the EUR 300 billion in investments by the end of 2027.
  • Target of more than 50 % of EIB Global annual lending for climate action and environmental sustainability by 2025.

Legal basis: Articles 2 and 3 of the Treaty on European Union; Articles 15, 126, 174, 175, 177, 208, 209, 271, 308 and 309 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and Protocol No 5 on the Statute of the EIB.