European Investment Bank President Werner Hoyer came to Brussels this week to launch the lender’s new development branch, and a few political barbs too.
EIB Global will see the Luxembourg-based bank aim to increase the 30 offices it now has outside the European Union, with a first development hub launched in Nairobi last November. A board advisory group will also be created to better connect the bank with the policy priorities of EU institutions in Brussels.
The development branch is part of EIB’s response to instructions from EU states last summer to enhance its development impact while generating no additional costs.
At the same time, with the sixth summit of African Union and EU leaders in Brussels next month, the pressure is on for Europe to present a large investment package that backs up its rhetoric on a new “alliance” with Africa.
Asked by Devex at a press conference Thursday whether EIB should pursue not just greater impact but also greater volumes, Hoyer said he was convinced of the need for a “considerable leap” in investments outside the EU and that EIB “would be able to do much more,” should its all-EU shareholders agree.
“I can very well imagine that if we can show that EIB Global is a very effective tool, then this can be scaled up,” Hoyer said, adding that he wanted to keep a “low profile” on that prospect to avoid scaring EU national leaders and finance ministers.
In fact, the bank’s latest results, published Thursday, showed that EIB investment outside the bloc fell from €10.2 ($11.3 billion) billion in 2020 to €8.14 billion in 2021. An EIB source emailed Devex that financing in sub-Saharan Africa remained steady at around €2 billion per year, but that in 2021 “challenges related to human rights, public finances and COVID led to delays and reduced signatures in north Africa.”
Thursday’s press conference and Wednesday’s public meeting with members of the European Parliament also allowed Hoyer to range over other topics.
European investment banks criticized on climate commitments
EIB and EBRD aren't moving fast enough on climate change for many climate activists — or for the European Parliament.
On the World Bank’s credentials in fighting climate change, he said, “Sometimes I have the feeling the colleagues in the staff of the World Bank would happily do more together with us than they can do,” referring to the interests of the World Bank’s international shareholders.
Hoyer believed the 2019 Wise Persons report, which compared EIB, not very favorably, to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, “has not at the end of the day brought us too much forward.”
He was also skeptical about EBRD’s expansion beyond its initial countries of operation in Central and Eastern Europe, including a possible move into lending in sub-Saharan Africa. “I sometimes doubt the logic behind it to be quite honest,” he said.
On the potential for more say for the European Parliament in EIB’s investment decisions, he said, “I would rather have your [ European Parliament's] advice before we take decisions on our projects than being criticized afterwards … So far the [EU] member states have not been too open-minded on this idea. I’d be happy.”
Hoyer also responded to a letter published this week from almost two dozen civil society groups, calling on the bank to bolster human rights safeguards and other aspects of its draft Environmental and Social Sustainability Framework ahead of a board discussion on Feb. 2.
Hoyer said EIB has the ambition to be “second to none” when it comes to human rights compliance and that if there are gaps in the current framework he is open to checking these and fixing them.
About the author
Vince Chadwickvchadw
Vince Chadwick is a contributing reporter at Devex. A law graduate from Melbourne, Australia, he was social affairs reporter for The Age newspaper, before covering breaking news, the arts, and public policy across Europe, including as a reporter and editor at POLITICO Europe. He was long-listed for International Journalist of the Year at the 2023 One World Media Awards.
