ENPI EAST/ COUNCIL APPROVES EU-GUARANTEE FOR EIB EXTERNAL OPERATIONS FOR 2014-2020

The Council of the EU today approved a renewal of the EU's guarantee for the European
 Investment Bank's external operations for the 2014-2020 period (PE-COS 3/14).
 
 The decision renews the EU budget guarantee for EIB lending to projects that support the
 EU's external policy objectives. The guarantee covers sovereign and political risks in
 connection with loan and loan guarantee operations, thus preventing those risks from affecting
 the EIB's credit standing and enabling the bank to maintain attractive lending rates.
 
 Out of the regional distribution of the € 27 billion, fixed ceiling for Neighbourhood and
 Partnership countries is €14 437 225 000, broken down into the following indicative
 sub-ceilings:

 – Mediterranean countries: € 9 606 200 000;
– Eastern Europe, Southern Caucasus and Russia: € 4 831 025 000;
 
The decision sets a € 30 billion maximum ceiling for EIB financing operations under EU guarantee for the duration of the EU's 2014-2020 financial framework. This figure is broken down into a maximum € 27 billion fixed ceiling and a € 3 billion optional additional amount to be (wholly or partially) activated by the Parliament and the Council following a mid-term review in 2016.
 
Projects outside the EU currently represent less than 10% of total EIB financing activities.
While the bank's latest capital increase allows the EIB to step up its activities, the additional lending will essentially focus on projects within the EU and not its external activity.
 
The decision renews the general objectives set for financing operations across all regions, namely local private sector development, in particular in support of SMEs, social and economic infrastructure and climate change mitigation and adaptation. A target has been set to reinforce the climate change dimension, whereby the latter must amount to at least 25% of total financing operations...(link)