- Kyriacos Kakouris appointed member of the EU Bank’s Management Committee
- He succeeds Lilyana Pavlova, who served as EIB Vice President since 2019
The European Investment Bank (EIB) is pleased to announce the appointment of Kyriacos Kakouris to its Management Committee. Following a decision by the Bank’s shareholders – the EU Member States – Kakouris has been appointed the first ever EIB Vice President from Cyprus.
An economist by training, Kakouris served on the EIB’s Board of Directors for almost 20 years, including a few years as Chairperson of the Ethics and Compliance Committee of the Bank. Before his appointment as Vice President of the EIB, he was Director of Strategy and Coordination and before that of International Financial Institutions and Financial Management of Central Government at the Cyprus Ministry of Finance.
“I have been nominated by Cyprus to serve on the EIB’s Board of Directors ever since our country joined the EU, and I‘ve seen that the Bank is a formidable instrument for the achievement of collective objectives, directing much-needed finance to social cohesion, competitiveness and innovation,” Kakouris said. “It is an honour to become Vice President of an institution that supports such a variety of sectors always to the benefit of people in Europe and beyond.”
Kakouris succeeds Lilyana Pavlova, who has been Vice President since November 2019.
“Kyriacos was the EIB’s longest-serving director, and he will be a steady pair of hands at our Management Committee in these challenging times for Europe and the world,” EIB President Werner Hoyer said. “I would like to thank Lilyana for her truly valuable services over the past four years and wish her well in her future endeavours.”
“Over the past four years, I have had the distinct privilege of being part of the EIB Group family and working closely with dedicated colleagues and counterparts,” Pavlova said. “In times of uncertainty, we navigated through challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic and the Russian invasion in Ukraine, making a lasting impact on the lives of citizens across the European Union and beyond. I am glad that my successor is Vice President Kyriacos Kakouris, who knows the Bank very well, and I wish him best of luck in his new role.”
The Management Committee is the EIB’s permanent collegiate executive body. It has nine members – the President and eight Vice Presidents. Under the authority of the President and the supervision of the Board of Directors, it oversees the day-to-day running of the EIB, prepares decisions for Directors and ensures that these are implemented. Its members are appointed by the Board of Governors, consisting of EU finance ministers, on a proposal from the Board of Directors.
About the European Investment Bank
The EIB Group is the EU’s long-term financing institution, owned by its member states. It consists of the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Investment Fund (EIF). It finances sound investment that contributes to EU policy goals, including social and territorial cohesion, competitiveness, innovation, and the just transition to climate neutrality.
In response to the war in Ukraine, the EIB has raised its financing volumes for clean energy to a record, backing critical investment needed to help Europe escape the shackles of dependency on fossil-fuel imports. The EU bank has also increased its financing for security projects to unprecedented levels.
The EIB was the first multilateral development bank to end support for fossil fuels and has committed to support €1 trillion in climate investment this decade. Over half of the EIB Group’s lending in 2022 was devoted to climate and environmental sustainability projects, while almost half of the EIB’s financing inside the EU was signed for projects in cohesion regions, where per-capita income is lower, highlighting the Bank’s commitment to equitable growth.
The EIB Group is Europe’s innovation champion. The EIF supports Europe’s SMEs by improving their access to finance through a wide range of selected financial intermediaries, such as banks, guarantee and leasing companies, micro-credit providers and private equity funds. The EIF designs and offers equity and debt financing instruments fostering EU objectives, and leverages EU funding tools, such as the InvestEU programme, to support of entrepreneurship, growth, innovation, research and development, the digital transition and employment. Earlier this year, it launched the European Tech Champions Initiative, an ambitious Fund of Funds that seeks to make sure that tech pioneers made in Europe, stay in Europe.
EIB’s operations outside the EU are carried out by EIB Global. As a key partner in the EU’s Global Gateway, we aim to support at least €100 billion of investment by 2028, one third of the strategy’s target. With offices across the world, EIB Global is close to local people, firms and institutions, and fosters strong Team Europe partnerships with development finance institutions.
For more information on the EIB Group’s role and activities see here.
