Partnerships

The CEB’s long-term partnership with the European Union is of strategic importance for reaching further and doing more to bolster social cohesion.

InvestEU

The CEB’s collaboration with InvestEU continued to strengthen and expand in 2023 with the launch of CEB investments worth €370 million for social housing, training and social enterprises, backed by the InvestEU Guarantee Agreement, which the Bank signed with the Commission in 2022, allowing for total investments (including EU co-financing) of around €740 million. (See also Partnerships in Report of the Governor 2022)

A contribution agreement for around €10 million was signed to support the CEB’s provision of capacity building under the InvestEU Advisory Hub, which the Bank joined in 2023. This dual-track partnership means that the CEB is able to translate EU support into increased access to financing and to provide technical assistance for its counterparties.

One increasingly important sector, and a priority in the CEB’s Strategic Framework 2023-2027, is microfinance and social enterprises, particularly for vulnerable groups lacking access to credit from commercial banks. A framework operation approved with the European Commission in February enables the Bank to scale up its support for microfinance and social economy finance with higher loan amounts in all of the CEB’s EU member states, thanks to the InvestEU guarantee.

As part of the InvestEU “Social Investment and Skills Window”, five new CEB loans – in France, Ireland, Romania and Spain – were approved by the InvestEU Investment Committee, covering the sectors of social and affordable housing, education, employment and skills, and healthcare.

The unique approach of the InvestEU guarantee also allows the CEB to extend financing to new types of partners who might not normally qualify for CEB loans. In France, the Bank provided a €13.5 million loan to Fondation Apprentis d’Auteuil, one of the country’s oldest foundations supporting child protection and social inclusion. The foundation includes a secondary school, vocational training facilities, a boarding school, a refuge for children, a community centre and an emergency reception centre. By funding the modernisation of the Foundation’s school campus near Paris, the loan will also allow for the expansion of its programming, which will reach more vulnerable young people and train them in crafts and other skills.

Since becoming an advisory partner of the InvestEU Advisory Hub in January, the CEB has commissioned a study to assess the social sector infrastructure investment needs in nine EU countries. The study will be published in 2024, and the CEB will continue to support the identification, preparation and development of investment projects across selected EU countries.

For more on our donors, see also https://coebank.org/en/partnering-with-donors/our-donors/

Multilateral development banks: from climate to procurement

Partnerships with peer MDBs bring together different networks, expertise and capacities, and enable the CEB to contribute to joint efforts to address global challenges, such as sustainable development and climate change, for which social actions are essential.

During 2023, governments, notably led by the G20, called on MDBs to reinforce their individual and collective actions on sustainable development and climate change. Governor Monticelli and other Heads of MDBs signed a joint statement on the occasion of the IMF-World Bank Annual Meetings in Marrakech in October committing to strengthen their “collaboration and individual actions for greater impact”. This was followed by another joint statement emphasising coordinated action on climate and development at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP28) in Dubai in December (available here).

Strengthened cooperation with the multilateral development banks, national and regional development banks and international partner institutions has also increased opportunities for project co-financing. In 2023, nearly one quarter of CEB’s newly approved lending benefitted from co-financing with other lenders.

The CEB also teamed up with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the World Bank to help advance a common approach for harmonising public procurement practices for public sector investments financed by the MDBs in Ukraine. Reconstruction costs for Ukraine will be huge, with World Bank estimates in February 2024 indicating needs of around US$ 486 billion over ten years. A Memorandum of Intent (MoI) signed by the heads of the four MDBs in Marrakech aims to establish procedures for managing investments, including procurement practices that are transparent and simple, answering both Ukraine’s and donors’ expectations, while exercising proper fiduciary oversight.

Public procurement is a constantly evolving issue for investment projects more generally, and in 2023 the CEB, alongside the EIB, EBRD, OECD and others, actively contributed to the Methodology for Assessing Procurement Systems (MAPS) initiative, which is the only existing tool for assessing public procurement systems in their entirety. The methodology identifies what works to support more efficient reforms for better public systems. The CEB contributed to several network initiatives during the year, including on sustainable procurement.

Wider engagement

The Bank continued to play an active role in the Finance in Common Summit, a global coalition created in 2020 to enhance co-operation among the world’s public development banks, including national promotional banks, in view of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Agreement on climate. The CEB confirmed that the Coalition for Social Investment, which it co-leads with the French Development Agency (AFD), would join forces with the International Development Finance Club (IDFC) to reinforce efforts towards SDG alignment.

In December, the CEB joined other MDBs, international organisations, governments and civil society groups at the Global Refugee Forum, committing to strengthening partnerships with strategic organisations, such as IOM and UNHCR, and to collaborating through the MDB Coordination Platform on Economic Migration and Forced Displacement, which the CEB joined in 2022.

The CEB continued to engage with national development banks, too, signing, for example, a memorandum of understanding with the Caisse des Dépôts Group (CDC) in October to strengthen the CEB- CDC partnership.

Wide engagement is invaluable for enhancing operational and technical knowledge to improve the quality of investments.

For the Bank, wide engagement is invaluable for enhancing operational and technical knowledge to improve the quality of investments. For instance, it participates in the Network on Effective Learning Environment, whose annual meeting in March brings together education experts from the main financial institutions in Europe to exchange information on financing education projects and identify areas for potential collaboration. The CEB led efforts on improving learning environments, notably through pilot projects implementing a Constructing Education Framework, including in Italy and Finland.

Homelessness is a cause of growing concern in Europe, and the Bank actively supports the members of the European Platform on Combatting Homelessness (EPOCH) to map funding options and develop projects, as part of a dedicated working group co-chaired with the European Commission.

Moreover, the CEB participated in several events focused on microfinance in 2023. Governor Monticelli delivered the opening speech at the European Microfinance Network 20th anniversary conference in Paris in June. The Bank also participated in the 25th annual conference of the Microfinance Centre in May, which explored how microfinance for social investments can address challenges such as technological change, the future of work, political conflict and global insecurity.

©CEB 2024