European Investment Bank triples its financial commitment to defence

Published on 20/06/2025 - 12:37 GMT+2

The European Investment Bank (EIB) is strengthening its domiciled arsenic nan European Union's financial arm, pinch its financing ceiling for this twelvemonth reaching €100 billion, a caller record.

Against a backdrop of geopolitical tensions, nan Bank is confirming its committedness to defence and information by tripling its lending. The EIB plans to give 3.5% of full financing to nan subject sector. The institution mentions 32 flagship projects successful nan pipeline.

These announcements validate nan hold successful caller months of nan EIB's information mandate, which marks a paradigm displacement successful nan institution's mission.

This support will beryllium disposable to each EU companies: nationalist and private, ample and small.

"We finance nan nationalist assemblage erstwhile it comes to infrastructure for ample subject barracks. Just this week we sewage nan go-ahead to finance a very important portion of infrastructure successful Lithuania, a subject barracks that will location a brigade of nan Bundeswehr (German army) very adjacent to nan Belarusian border," said EIB President Nadia Calviño.

"We are besides financing ample backstage companies for investigation and improvement programmes successful nan fields of invention and business capacity," she added.

She besides says that she is moving pinch nan European Commission to place different cardinal infrastructures for subject mobility.

The ambiance priority

The EIB's committedness to defence does not, however, mean a complete turnaround. Climate alteration and cleanable power stay priorities. The EIB deems ambiance action to spell manus successful manus pinch European security.

The Bank is truthful launching a caller programme of finance successful exertion and innovation: TechEU. The strategy will supply €70 cardinal of equity, quasi-equity, loans and guarantees from nan EIB Group betwixt 2025 and 2027. It will besides telephone connected backstage superior to make astatine slightest €250 cardinal of investment. The first activity of TechEU projects will beryllium devoted to cleanable industries.

"This concerns nan products needed to build power networks. It's astir guarantees for cleanable exertion innovators. We besides request to support nan upwind powerfulness manufacture and nan deployment of powerfulness acquisition agreements, which are basal to stabilise power prices for Europe's awesome industries," said Calviño.

The EIB President stressed that nan greenish modulation and exertion besides lend to nan EU's strategical autonomy.