CEB and EIB Group to strengthen co-operation to address social challenges across Europe

PARIS, France (14 October) — The Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB) and the EIB Group (comprising the European Investment Bank and European Investment Fund), convened at the CEB headquarters in Paris to explore enhanced collaboration to address growing social infrastructure needs across Europe.

The institutions seek to leverage their respective strengths to address Europe's pressing social and financial inclusion challenges. The dialogue centered on social infrastructure, including supporting vital services such as housing, education, and healthcare, while stressing the crucial role that social enterprises and microfinance play in promoting inclusive growth.

As implementing partners of the InvestEU programme – a European Union initiative designed to bridge investment gaps in key policy areas – the CEB, the EIB and the EIF are dedicated to coordinating their approaches and scaling up efforts in sectors such as affordable housing, social infrastructure, microfinance, social enterprises, and support for micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs).

Additionally, the three institutions expressed a commitment to continuing to coordinate their efforts to rebuild essential social infrastructure and small and medium enterprises in Ukraine, ensuring that displaced populations have access to adequate housing, services, and economic opportunities while keeping providing supports to Ukrainian refugees in the member states.

The CEB, the EIB and the EIF will take proactive steps to identify potential synergies for future projects, fostering stronger and more seamless co-operation for a lasting impact on European citizens.

“We are pleased to take this important step toward strengthening ties between the CEB and the EIB Group at a crucial time for Europe. The CEB brings its unique social mission and expertise in financing impactful social projects to this collaboration. Through synergy and complementarity, while leveraging our specific mandates, our three institutions can make a big difference for the daily lives of European citizens and to contribute to the realization of social Europe,” said Sandrine Gaudin, CEB’s Vice-Governor for Financial Strategy.

“This collaboration is essential to amplifying our shared mission of fostering social cohesion, economic resilience, and environmental sustainability. It showcases the collective strength of working together, combining our resources and expertise to tackle Europe's most pressing challenges. By pooling our resources and expertise, we maximize our impact, driving inclusive growth and sustainable development across the continent,” added EIB's Vice-president Kyriacos Kakouris.

“Our institutions are coming together to strengthen their collaboration. We want our interventions to be more effective for the benefit of Europe's most vulnerable communities and citizens. The EIF and the CEB contribute through their product offering to the development of social investment and this closer relationship will enable us to deepen our convergence in the field of inclusive finance,” explained EIF Chief investment officer Alessandro Tappi.

For further information, please contact

Jelica Vesic, Senior Communication Officer at CEB, +33 6 03 12 57 80, jelica.vesic@coebank.org

Christophe Alix, Communication and Media Officer at EIB Group for France, c.alix@bei.org, tél. : +33 6 11 81 30 99 / +352 43 79 84303 Press Office: press@eib.org /press@eif.org