Overview
What is enlargement?
Today, there are 27 countries in the European Union (EU). Enlargement is when a new country joins the EU, after fulfilling the membership criteria and completing an accession process. This process can take many years and has three major steps: candidacy, membership negotiations and accession.
Our current role is to support:
Country overview
Find an overview of our impact by country.
Candidate countries
Potential candidate countries
*This designation is without prejudice to the positions expressed by the EU Member States on Kosovo’s status and is in line with United Nations Security Council Resolution No. 1244/1999 and the International Court of Justice Opinion of 22 July 2010 on Kosovo’s declaration of independence.
Our stories in the region
We support projects that improve lives all over the world. Watch our videos and read our stories on how our work improves the quality of life in the region.
What we offer
We offer a broad range of financial products and advisory services for public and private project to enhance growth and development in the region.
We work on several investment initiatives to maximise our local impact:
Neighbourhood Investment Platform
NIP addresses critical funding gaps in the EU’s Southern and Eastern Neighbourhood.
European Fund for Sustainable Development (EFSD) Guarantee
This guarantee instrument crowds in private investors, where viable business proposals meet social needs and where limited public funds can attract private money.
SME Access to Finance Initiative
The initiative boosts support for small businesses in Europe's neighbouring countries.
Urban Projects Finance Initiative
UPFI supports project promoters to prepare and finance urban development projects.
We work with donors to create trust funds and thus provide more in-depth support for local projects through technical assistance, grants and loan guarantees.
City Climate Finance Gap Fund
This fund offers technical and advisory services for climate action projects and supports cities in developing and emerging economies.
Economic Resilience Initiative Fund
This fund supports resilient and inclusive growth in the region.
Financial Inclusion Fund
It aims to improve access to finance for small businesses and entrepreneurs in developing countries.
Green Hydrogen Fund
This trust fund provides strategic advice and capacity building to developing countries to help them prepare for decarbonising the industry sector through green hydrogen.
Eastern Partnership Technical Assistance Trust Fund
The trust fund finances technical assistance and capacity-building programmes in the Eastern Partnership countries.
Water Sector Fund
This fund aims to support the development of water projects in low- and lower-middle income countries.
EU 4 Ukraine
The fund aims to accelerate our support for Ukraine’s most urgent infrastructure needs and help sustain its economy.
Luxembourg-EIB Climate Finance Platform
The platform supports investment in international climate finance, focusing on climate change mitigation and adaptation.
We provide equity financing, primarily investing or co-investing along with funds focused on infrastructure, the environment, small and medium-sized enterprises and mid-size corporations.
Our experts provide advisory services and technical assistance to improve access to finance and facilitate investment for:
- public authorities
- financial intermediaries
- microfinance institutions
- final beneficiaries
We also offer expertise and technical assistance to support the design and structuring of low-carbon infrastructure projects in cities.
Our partnerships
We work closely with the European Union and development partners to mobilise more development and climate finance, and to enhance our impact.
We are the European Union’s international development bank. We promote the EU's principles, values and objectives and contribute to stable growth in countries beyond Europe’s borders.
Global Gateway
As part of Team Europe we are supporting Global Gateway, a new European strategy to invest in sustainable, high-quality projects around the world that are good for people and the planet.
Under Global Gateway, EIB Global is tackling some of today’s most pressing challenges, from fighting climate change to accelerating the digital transition. EIB Global is well on track to facilitate at least a third of the €300 billion of investment that Global Gateway aims to mobilise by 2027.
This will help support projects that are focused on digitalisation, tackling climate change, clean energy, healthcare, education, as well as transport.
Team Europe
As part of Team Europe, the EIB has increased its development finance, especially in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Team Europe is a global recovery package that combines resources from the European Union, Member States, and the EIB, and supports the most vulnerable countries and people most at risk around the world.
In line with Team Europe initiatives, our projects in the region are aimed at achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
To tackle challenges in the region, we work with various United Nations agencies and international financial institutions, such as the Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB), the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the French Agency for Development (AFD), the German Development Bank (KfW) and the World Bank.
Our initiatives with these partners in the region include, among others, the Western Balkans Investment Framework (WBIF), and the Mutual Reliance Initiative (MRI).
Our projects
We have financed projects that have had a positive impact on the lives of people in the region.
Contact us
Local authority or large corporate
Contact us at our local offices:
- Albania
- Bosnia and Herzegovina
- North Macedonia
- Serbia
- Türkiye : Ankara, Istanbul
Small businesses
For small projects (generally less than € 25m)
Media
Contact our press officers:
General enquiries
Contact the Information Desk for enquiries regarding the financing facilities, activity, organisation and objectives of the EIB.
Contact us
Tel. +352 4379-22000
Frequently asked questions