Greek Finance Minister visits EIB to further strengthen the EU Bank’s financial and technical contribution to investment projects in Greece

• Finance Minister Staikouras meets President Hoyer and Vice President Thomsen
• Working meeting with EIB financing, climate and technical experts to discuss new opportunities for EIB engagement in Greece including under the Just Transition Mechanism and Resilience and Recovery Fund
• Minister briefed on European and global EIB support for COVID-19 resilience and development
• Follows record EUR 2.8 billion EIB financing for private and public investment across Greece
• President Hoyer, Vice President and EIF CEO to visit Greece next week

Christos Staikouras, Greek Finance Minister and Governor of the European Investment Bank today visited the Luxembourg headquarters of the EIB to explore new opportunities to further strengthen the impact of European Investment Bank engagement in Greece and financing to support recovery from COVID-19 and accelerate climate action across the country.

Werner Hoyer, EIB President and Christian Kettel Thomsen, Vice President responsible for Greece, updated Finance Minister Staikouras and Michael Arghyrou, President of the Council of Economic Advisors on the EIB’s rapid response to tackle the impact of the pandemic and increasing support for climate action and energy transition in the years ahead.

“The European Investment Bank is a key partner for Greece. Today’s visit and the productive meeting that we had with President Hoyer, Vice President Kettel Thomsen and their team was a valuable opportunity to build on last year’s record EUR 2.8 billion EIB Group engagement in our country and to ensure that future priority public and private investment in Greece can benefit from the EU Bank’s unique technical expertise and financial strength. We were also happy to be able to build on the agreement we signed two months ago, through which the EIB will contribute in managing EUR 5 billion to support of new investment in the context of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan ‘Greece 2.0’. A cohesive and realistically ambitious Plan, as proved by the fact that it is among the first ones approved by the European Commission. On Friday, as EIB Governor, I will join European Union Finance Ministers in congratulating the EIB staff for their hard work to deliver unprecedented support to tackle both COVID-19 challenges and climate change. Next week Prime Minister Mitsotakis and I look forward to welcoming President Hoyer, Vice President Kettel Thomsen and EIF CEO Godard to Athens and unveiling significant new support for business investment and energy transition,” said Christos Staikouras, Greek Finance Minister and Governor of the European Investment Bank.

“The European Investment Bank is committed to even closer cooperation with public and private partners across Greece to unlock new investment that creates jobs, enhances climate action and builds a better future. My EIB colleagues and I are pleased to welcome Finance Minister Staikouras back to our headquarters and provide an update on the EIB’s engagement in Greece, across Europe and in partner countries. I look forward to visiting Athens next week to further deepen our dialogue and announce significant new support for investment in Greece.” said Werner Hoyer, President of the European Investment Bank.

“Finance Minister Staikouras’ visit to the EIB provides a timely opportunity to discuss the broad engagement of the EIB Group’s dedicated Investment Team for Greece and identify new investment priorities where we can work together, including implementing the Recovery and Resilience Fund. Colleagues will also highlight how the EIB Group can support sustainable energy infrastructure, energy efficiency, sustainable mobility, circular economy, digitisation, water, waste management, competitiveness, health, R&D and innovation projects in Greece. Next week I will visit Greece for my first time as EIB Vice President to see at first hand the impact of EIB backed investments in the country.” said Christian Kettel Thomsen, Vice President responsible for Greece.

The working meeting with EIB financial, technical, climate and development took place ahead of the meeting of EU finance ministers and the EIB Board of Governors meeting in Luxembourg.

Building on record engagement and approvals in Greece

Last year the European Investment Bank and European Investment Fund agreed a record EUR 2.8 billion of new support for high-impact private and public investment across the country, and approved more than EUR 4.3 billion for future investment.

EIB Group financing in Greece last year represented the third largest engagement in the European Union as a percentage of national GDP, and EIB financing in Greece represented the second largest per capita engagement in the EU.

Visit next week to unveil new COVID business financing and energy transition investment

Next week EIB President Werner Hoyer, Vice President Christian Kettel Thomsen and EIF CEO Alain Godard will make a two day visit to Athens to meet Prime Minister Mitsotakis, unveil significant new financing for business investment, upgrading energy infrastructure across Greece and to formally agree broader support regions most impacted by energy transition in the country.