CEB begins process of adopting new Development Plan for 2017-2019, approves Environmental and Social Safeguards Policy

Paris - The Administrative Council of the Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB) discussed and approved the Bank’s new Development Plan for the period 2017-2019. The Development Plan requires the final approval of the CEB’s Governing Board on 2 December before it is adopted by the Bank. 

As the period covered by the Development Plan 2014-2016 is coming to an end, the Administrative Council took stock of the Plan’s achievements and concluded that it had successfully reached its broad objectives. Focusing on the CEB’s current context, including the numerous challenges facing Europe, the Administrative Council considered ways for the Bank to enhance its effectiveness and reaffirm its relevance in a fast-changing environment. 

The thematic debate on the Development Plan 2017-2019 began in June 2015. The CEB’s Administrative Council and Governing Board, respectively, agreed on the following as the main priority areas of the new Development Plan: 

• promoting sustainable and inclusive growth with emphasis on public infrastructure, job creation and preservation, access to the labour market, housing, and the integration of vulnerable groups into society
  
• supporting the social integration of refugees, displaced persons, and migrants
  
• taking action on climate change through the development of mitigation and adaptation measures.
  

CEB Governor Rolf Wenzel said: “I am glad that the CEB began today the process of adopting the Bank’s new Development Plan for 2017-2019, pending approval by the Governing Board next month. The new Plan will enable the CEB to remain focused on its objectives while also giving its social mission a renewed impetus in the face of major challenges in Europe and the world. The new Plan places emphasis on the Bank’s historical social mandate, especially in terms of supporting social integration and promoting inclusive growth, but also takes into account global challenges such as climate change.”

The Administrative Council also approved the CEB Environmental and Social Safeguards Policy (ESSP), which is closely related to the new Development Plan and will be part of its implementation once the latter is adopted.

The ESSP, which was first introduced in September 2010, was revised in order to integrate lessons learned during the past five years of operational experience, accommodate new CEB lending instruments, clarify the way in which social safeguard issues are addressed, and ensure consistency with international best practice. Its purpose is to provide a better understanding of how the CEB addresses environmental and social sustainability issues and what it expects from its borrowers in that respect.