The European Investment Bank (EIB) has approved the allocation of €12.4 billion on projects in transport, infrastructure and energy. Almost half of the package will go to 14 transportation projects including €1.5 billion on a new metro line in Paris and €500 million on construction and new rolling stock for a new line on the metro in Bangalore, India. Other transportation projects include urban rail projects in Liege, Hannover, Bremen and Tunis and improvement of port facilities in Hamburg. The Luxembourg-based EIB has also approved new road and motorway schemes in Germany, the Netherlands, Latvia, and Bosnia and a new electronic toll system in Slovenia.
Moreover, the bank has given €546 million for the renewal of aircraft fleets operating regional routes by KLM and Air Nostrum and the package also includes €4.3 billion on energy projects – the second biggest item on the allocated budget. The energy projects range from hydropower, onshore wind, and smart meter projects in Italy, through solar, wind, district heating projects energy efficiency in France to reinforcement and extension of natural gas distribution in Ireland and Spain. The budget will also help finance green energy and energy efficiency in India.
The EIB is the EU’s nonprofit financial institution that represents the interests of the member states. Its focus areas tend to climate change and development but the portfolio of financed projects includes also building economic resilience in the EU’s neighborhood or gender issues and migration. The bank is an extension and a powerful multiplier of the European Union external action. In 2016, a tenth of the bank’s financing was allocated on projects outside the bloc.
