Changes from plenary report to adopted text

19. Calls for stronger EU-level coordination on critical raw materials, including closer cooperation between the EIB, export credit agencies and other public financial institutions; notes that the EU is lagging behind competitors such as Canada, the United States and Australia, which apply more coordinated ‘whole-of-government’ financing approaches; stresses that all supported CRM-related projects must meet high environmental and social standards; calls on the EIB to improve transparency in the selection and financing projects that cover all the stages of CRM as defined by the CRM Act;

Defence and external action

20. Supports the March 2025 EIB Action Plan on strengthening Europe’s security and defence capabilities; welcomes the additional EUR 4 billion in new financing, which represents close to 5 % of total EIB investments in the EU; recalls the shift in short- and medium-term EU priorities, which has placed significant pressure on national budgets with regard to defence and security investments; stresses that, given the EIB mandate to support Union objectives, the EIB should further scale up its engagement in these strategic sectors, while safeguarding its AAA rating; notes that the EIB’s financial support for military mobility, strategic infrastructure and advanced technologies is one of the key factors in driving market integration and reinforcing common European interests; welcomes the updated eligibility criteria enhancing support for small and medium-sized enterprises and start-ups through tailored financial instruments such as venture debt, equity investments and dedicated credit lines; notes that defence spending should ensure strategic coherence and a balanced approach, and should not undermine social and environmental spending or long-standing Union policies;

21. Recalls that certain strategic sectors within the defence and security industry continue to face EIB funding restrictions; notes that despite the EIB’s decision of 21 March 2025 to expand eligibility, residual barriers remain and hinder the full mobilisation of private capital to support European security; calls on the EIB’s Board of Governors to continue to adapt the EIB’s practices with regard to lending to the defence industry, as stated in the European Council conclusions of 6 March 2025;

22. Highlights the important role of the EU and the EIB in building mutually beneficial economic partnerships with non-EU countries, which are crucial to the EU’ global position of promoting a rules-based multilateral system, sustainable development, democracy, human rights, and the rule of law and strengthening resilient supply chains and sustainable infrastructure; emphasises the need for the EIB to systematically involve civil society and local communities at all stages of project design, implementation, and evaluation to ensure that Global Gateway projects are responsive to local needs and deliver meaningful developmental results; notes EIB Global’s crucial role in mobilising investment in sustainable development under the Global Gateway initiative, and that it exceeded its EUR 100 billion goal in 2025, thereby reinforcing Europe’s economic interests and market access in a competitive global environment;

23. Greatly welcomes the EIB’s continued support in delivering and strengthening public and private sector operations in Ukraine and in supporting pan-African trade, infrastructure and regional integration, to strengthen ties with Europe; underlines that EIB and EU support alone is not enough to address Ukraine’s financing needs;

24. Is concerned about rapidly rising debt levels and higher borrowing costs in emerging markets and developing economies at a time when global shocks have become more frequent and government debt among such countries has climbed to a 55-year high; highlights the important role of the EIB in providing funding; welcomes the role of other multilateral institutions in helping to alleviate unsustainable debt burdens;

25. Reiterates its call for EIB Global to limit blending operations to areas where they can add value to the local economy while avoiding the crowding out of private capital and to ensure that blended finance is not used for essential public services, particularly health, education and social protection; recalls that EU development policy goals, and in particular the goal of enhancing universal and affordable access to healthcare, should guide EIB investments in this field, to ensure better health outcomes for all;

Support for cohesion, agriculture and housing

28. Notes that in 2025, approximately half of the EIB’s financing supported investment in the EU’s less developed regions and EUR 3 billion were allocated to agriculture and the bioeconomy; encourages the EIB to deepen cooperation with national promotional banks and regional financial institutions in order to maximise the territorial impact of Union funding and reduce regional investment disparities; calls for the use of blended finance by combining EU cohesion funds with EIB instruments; emphasises that ensuring access to direct financing in all regions is essential to foster economic convergence and promote economic and territorial cohesion and that, together with reinforcing food security, this is crucial for the EU’s strategic autonomy; calls for the EIB to mobilise predictable and sufficient funding for young farmers;

29. Calls for preserving the EIB Group’s support to agriculture and cohesion policy, including the wider use of financial instruments to leverage EU grants and attract private investment; highlights the value added of adequate financing for joint EIB-Commission technical assistance to implementing authorities to help ensure the timely implementation and additionality of investments, in particular through building administrative capacity and developing investment pipelines; calls for expanded use of blended finance to target underserved and cohesion regions by combining EU structural and investment funds with other instruments;

30. Welcomes the efforts of the EIB Group in financing social housing projects across the Union; calls on the Bank to step up its activities in improving access to affordable housing in light of the growing housing crisis in Europe; encourages the EIB to collaborate with other European public investment banks, local public financial institutions, local governments, cooperative and social housing companies, and municipalities to finance housing solutions and provide long-term solutions to the cost of living crisis;

31. Welcomes the EIB’s efforts in supporting projects that deliver on the implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights and the UN Sustainable Development Goals; invites the EIB to increase the weighting of social benefits in project appraisals in order to provide affordable long-term solutions;

Transparency and accountability

32. Recalls that EIB funds are public money and should always be subject to public scrutiny and accountability, especially where backed by EU guarantees or EU budgetary funds; reiterates its call for a structured interinstitutional framework ensuring enhanced parliamentary oversight, improved access to information and the possibility for Parliament to provide input on the EIB’s strategic orientations; notes progress in the 2025 Foreign Direct Investment Transparency Index but calls for further improvements; stresses the need for fiscal responsibility and the efficient use of funds to protect taxpayers’ money; notes that strengthened reporting mechanisms are essential for effective parliamentary scrutiny;

33. Highlights the importance of the EIB’s ensuring the traceability of projects funded; stresses that the EIB should publish, in a timely manner, more detailed information regarding its projects, including their rationale and context, an explanation of how they align with the EU’s common priorities and information on the actual receiving economic operators, clearly highlighting which projects are supported by the EU budget; welcomes the EIB’s decision, following an Ombudsman inquiry, to start proactively publishing its environmental and social assessments of projects located outside the EU that are likely to have a significant impact in those areas;

34. Stresses that carefully designed temporary guarantees should be used, where appropriate, rather than grants, limiting direct budgetary impact and favouring the crowding-in of private capital; recalls that guarantees represent a real fiscal risk and should be subject to the same discipline as direct expenditure; underlines the fact that the use of guarantees must be accompanied by a high degree of transparency, democratic oversight and proper risk assessment mechanisms; stresses that private investors should retain the primary exposure to commercial risk, while the EIB’s intervention should remain limited, clearly defined and temporary, focusing on risks not bearable by private market participants and on ensuring project-specific risk mitigation; calls for the EIB to limit blending operations to areas where they can add value to the local economy while avoiding the crowding-out of private capital;

35. Stresses the overall high operational costs of the EIB; calls, therefore, for the identification of appropriate mitigation measures, with a view to enhancing cost-efficiency while safeguarding the Bank’s operational effectiveness;

36. Notes that the EIB Group operates under a dual regime under which EU budget-backed operations are indirectly scrutinised by the Commission and the ECA, and by Parliament in its decision on the discharge of the EU budget, while operations financed from the EIB’s own resources stemming from the Member States – more than three quarters of EIB operations – fall largely outside systematic external audit and scrutiny by national parliaments and the European Parliament; notes that the EIB has a dense internal accountability architecture and that an external auditor provides oversight of the EIB’s operations and accounting system; agrees that this structure is broadly in line with international practices; notes that reporting to the European Parliament is occasional, that cooperation with the European Ombudsman has shifted and that the ECA’s role is limited by the current rules and implementing arrangements; highlights the need for tangible actions by the EIB to address this situation, in line with the previous calls included in Parliament’s resolutions and the availability for dialogue and cooperation expressed by the European budgetary and discharge authority; calls on the EIB to actively involve national supreme audit institutions in this process to ensure accountability for operations not currently covered by the ECA and to guarantee robust accountability and oversight;

38. Is concerned by the ongoing corruption probe against a former EIB President; expects the European Public Prosecutor’s Office and the European Anti-Fraud Office to thoroughly investigate the case and awaits full clarity on the matter; recalls that any wrongdoing and misuse of public funds should be severely punished;

39. Calls for the the EIB’s human rights policies to be strengthened; stresses that environmental and social impact assessments should be carried out by independent experts, and that independent verification mechanisms should be introduced to oversee the self-monitoring and self-reporting conducted by EIB clients;

40. Acknowledges the EIB’s efforts to improve management practices, following the EIB internal survey of 2023; calls for the continued implementation of the EIB’s principles with regard to diversity, equity and inclusion, including the target of ensuring that at least 40 % of management positions are held by women by the end of 2026;

41. Reiterates its call for the EIB to urgently review the division of labour within the Management Committee, and in particular to ensure that EIB Vice-Presidents never take the lead on projects emanating from their home countries, even if the Management Committee takes collective responsibility for its decisions, in view of the clear risk of conflicts of interest; emphasises that there are numerous recommendations on this matter from EU institutions;

42. Welcomes the fact that in 2025, following repeated calls by Parliament, the EIB made itself available to enter into negotiations with a view to establishing an ‘agreement’ on enhanced cooperation between Parliament and the EIB; further welcomes the shared understanding that negotiations should be concluded in a timely manner; underlines that such an ‘agreement’ will formalise and strengthen interactions between Parliament and the EIB, thereby reflecting a mutual commitment to closer cooperation; notes that the added value of such agreements is attested to by the implementation of comparable agreements concluded between Parliament and other Union institutions and bodies or intergovernmental organisations;

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43. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council and the Commission.