CEB's Joint Meeting (Athens, 9 June 2023)

As prepared for delivery

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Communities, Territories and Infrastructure Development of Ukraine, Mr. Kubrakov,
Minister of Development and Investment of Greece, Ms. Louri-Dendrinou,
Minister of Finance of Ukraine, Mr. Marchenko,
Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Ms. Pejčinović Burić,
Chair of the Governing Board, Ms. Petrova,
Chair of the Administrative Council, Ms. Tuskienė,
Members of the Governing Board and Administrative Council,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am honoured by the warm welcome of Minister Louri-Dendrinou and our Greek hosts to the beautiful ancient city of Athens.

It makes this year’s Joint Meeting extra special: for not only do we return to the roots of European civilisation, but we reconnect with the roots of the CEB – Greece being one of eight founding member states of our Bank.

Today the CEB has 42 member states, and very soon, we will welcome Ukraine as our 43rd: the Ukrainian Parliament has unanimously adopted the law that allows the country to join the Bank.

It will be the culmination of a momentous and challenging year. At our Joint Meeting hosted by Ireland in Dublin last July, this gathering unanimously endorsed Ukraine’s request to become a member of the CEB, and in solidarity, agreed to make accession possible at no cost to the country. 

This will give the opportunity to the CEB to work with Ukraine and help mitigate, for what is possible, the unspeakable suffering and damage inflicted on the country and its people by Russia’s unprovoked and brutal aggression.

Today, we have the great honour of having with us the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Communities, Territories and Infrastructure Development of Ukraine, Mr. Oleksandr Kubrakov, and the Minister of Finance of Ukraine, Mr. Sergii Marchenko, connecting remotely, who will update us first-hand on their country’s urgent needs and priorities, and on what the CEB can do to help.

In fact, Ukraine’s upcoming accession is testimony to the confidence that it places on the CEB’s capacity to deliver and in the value-added it will bring for the country’s recovery, reconstruction and long-term social development. The CEB is committed to prove with its projects that this confidence is well placed. 

Moreover, for Ukraine, which is already a member of the Council of Europe, joining the CEB is yet another way to reaffirm its unwavering commitment to human rights and democracy and to further integrate into the European family of institutions. 

The CEB’s robust performance backs the faith that our member states have placed in us. In fact, despite all the challenges in our operational environment, 2022 proved to be a record year on both sides of the Bank’s balance sheet.  

 The CEB was among the first international financial institutions to mobilise resources to support Ukrainian people fleeing their country in the immediate aftermath of the Russian aggression. This included our largest ever single loan – € 450 million – in favour of Poland.

On the financing side, we issued our highest-ever volume of Social Inclusion Bonds, worth more than €2 billion, or a record 34% of the total funding programme.

This strong performance testifies both to the growing interest of financial markets in social investment, and the CEB’s remarkable comparative advantage in leveraging them to make resources available to its borrowers.

Since we last convened in this joint format, the CEB was busy on many other fronts too: overall, in 2022, we approved 36 projects with 16 member states, for a total of €4.2 billion in new loans. 

The positive impact of the Bank’s social investment projects is clearly in evidence – in developing affordable housing for vulnerable families in Germany and Lithuania, for example, in hospitals in the Balkans and Türkiye, business start-ups in Bulgaria, and indeed through our ongoing microfinance work in favour of vulnerable people here in Greece.

The broader benefits of the CEB’s operations are important too, well beyond individual projects. Consider employment, for instance: CEB projects completed across Europe since 2020 have led to the creation and preservation of about three quarters of a million jobs. 

Furthermore, the new and improved social infrastructure resulting from these projects – hospitals, schools, social housing and more – will continue to generate benefits for millions of citizens.

Looking ahead, how can we build on this solid performance for our members?

Our Strategic Framework 2023-2027 sets a clear way forward. Its overarching goal is to strengthen social cohesion and inclusion across Europe by sharpening our focus on key social sectors such as health and care, affordable housing, education, regional development and others. 

For instance, we will harness the potential of microfinance in our operations to encourage business start-ups, notably among women. Indeed, gender equality is a cross-cutting theme of the Strategic Framework, alongside digitalisation and climate action, helping us to fulfil our social mission.

A crucial feature of the Strategic Framework is our “vulnerability lens”, which the CEB is systematically applying to all projects, quite simply to make sure its financing reaches those who need it the most, so that no one is left behind.

We remain responsive to evolving needs, as the CEB showed in supporting Türkiye with targeted funding after its devastating earthquakes in February. 

This flexibility will continue to be important as we start working with Ukraine. The Strategic Framework includes a volume of CEB operations for Ukraine of some €200 million in 2023, rising gradually to an annual €400 million by 2027.

The CEB’s focus – at Ukraine’s request – will be on the key areas of social housing and health, in which we have expertise, including from post-conflict situations. In this regard, we are working in close collaboration with Ukrainian authorities, following their needs and priorities, as well as with other partners, including the EU and peer MDBs, to avoid overlap and enhance our effectiveness. 

Most of all, we rely on you, our member countries, for your support and engagement, so we can fulfil the social mandate you – as shareholders – have entrusted us with. The CEB’s social mission has acquired new urgency, and your historic agreement in December to strengthen the CEB’s capital base was both welcome and timely. It was a clear vote of confidence in the role the CEB must play in supporting Ukraine and Europe’s social cohesion generally. 

The CEB’s effectiveness comes from its agility in targeting its actions when and where they matter most. Each action is like a stitch that strengthens Europe’s social fabric, and the CEB is proud to have the skills and experience that such important work requires, particularly at times like now when multiple crises erode that social fabric. 

With your support, the CEB can reinforce its position as a cornerstone of Europe’s financial architecture and as an instrument for promoting social cohesion.

Ladies and gentlemen, the positive impact on people’s lives that I see from CEB actions, together with our financial strength, buoyed by the values of the Council of Europe that our work serves to promote, are good reasons for well-grounded optimism as we confront the challenges ahead. 

The CEB is proof that by working together, Europe can forge a brighter, more inclusive and more peaceful future for all. I look forward to a fruitful Joint Meeting.