<h6><strong>Julio García</strong></h6> <h4><strong>The president of the European Investment Bank (EIB), Nadia Calviño, announced this Wednesday that the institution will announce "in the coming days" an agreement to finance an electrical interconnection between France and Spain.</strong></h4> "It means that the Iberian Peninsula will cease to be an energy island," Calviño said in a public conversation in Brussels with the president of the EFE news agency, Miguel Ángel Oliver. The EIB president linked this connection to the blackout that Spain suffered last April and welcomed the signing of an agreement that "has been in the making for decades." Calviño framed this investment to strengthen the integration of the EU's electricity system as one of the EIB's major priorities, which she said aims to consolidate its position as a "climate bank," which is "a matter of security and strategic autonomy." "We cannot continue to depend on fossil fuel producers," added the former Spanish vice president and former economy minister, who noted that the EIB finances "40% of energy infrastructure across Europe." <h5><strong>SME financing</strong></h5> Furthermore, the EIB has increased the allocation of its financing program for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the security and defense sector to €3 billion, triple the amount initially budgeted last year, according to Calviño. The group is also signing an initial agreement with the German bank Deutsche Bank to finance a €500 million line of credit and liquidity for SMEs and expects to sign a second agreement with the Banque Populaire de France in the "coming days" within the framework of this initiative. "Therefore, two major European banks are benefiting from EIB financing to support the entire value chain," said Calviño, referring to a program aimed at supporting SMEs involved in the supply chain of major European security and defense contractors. The EIB president defended the need to strengthen European financing and capacity in security and defense matters and recalled that the group already expanded its scope of action in this area in 2024 and has done so again this year to finance projects "purely in the military field." Specifically, she said, the EIB is studying a portfolio of "more than 20 significant security and defense projects," three of which are Spanish. She added that she hopes that "financing for a major project for a Spanish company will be agreed upon very soon," although she did not specify which one. "Every euro financed by the EIB contributes to Europe's security because energy security, strategic autonomy, technological development, innovation, and technological leadership are key factors for Europe's security," Calviño said. <h5><strong>Housing</strong></h5> On the other hand, Calviño asserted that the EU institutions "can and must" support Member States in addressing the housing crisis, although the responsibility lies primarily with national and regional authorities. "It is fundamentally a matter of municipal, regional, and national responsibility, but the EU can and must support the States, regional, and municipal authorities in this process," stated Miguel Ángel Oliver in the same public conversation. Calviño noted that one of the aspects that most surprised him in his first months at the helm of the EIB was "seeing that (the housing crisis) affects all Member States regardless of their economic and industrial structure and demographic trends." "In virtually all Member States, the difficulty of accessing housing for younger generations is one of the political priorities," he stated. The EIB President pointed out that "various factors have come together" to explain the current price increase, including the rising cost of construction materials, the labor shortage, demographic factors such as new family models, the need to renovate the European housing stock, and tourist rentals. She emphasized that the bank has a joint strategic plan with the European Commission to specifically boost investment in three areas: technological innovation—for example, in new materials and industrial techniques—the renovation of the "enormous" EU housing stock, and the construction of new social housing. Along the same lines, she noted that last year, the EIB provided €1 billion in financing to the housing sector in Spain, the country being the "largest recipient" of EIB investments in this area, with "one in every three euros" allocated to this sector. "From our point of view, we are working with the Commission to try to mobilize financing under the best possible conditions and thus support this process and investment," she stated. He also highlighted the importance of other areas unrelated to financing, such as regulation and streamlining of permits and procedures.
