EUR 2 billion urgent financial support for Ukrainian refugees in Europe

The European Union’s national promotional banks and institutions and the European Investment Bank have today launched the EUR 2 billion Quick Response — Care for Ukrainian Refugees in Europe initiative. The joint initiative aims to provide immediate relief this year for refugees fleeing the war in Ukraine and promote the rapid and humane integration of Ukrainian refugees in EU Member States.

Following their joint statement of 11 March, five European national promotional banks and institutions, the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Association of Long-Term Investors (ELTI) launched the initiative today in Paris as a quick response to support EU Member States hosting Ukrainian refugees. The participants in the initiative will contribute directly or indirectly through their respective general programmes along with regional and local communities to provide housing for refugees and support their integration into local communities. The initiative could also finance education, healthcare and infrastructure needs and has a target of at least EUR 2 billion of financial support this year.

The urgent support initiative in Europe is a first step as the group considers further measures to help Member States deal with the impact of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The five national promotional institutions involved are:

Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego (BGK — Poland)
Groupe Caisse des Dépôts (CDC — France)
Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP — Italy)
Instituto de Crédito Oficial (ICO — Spain)
Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW — Germany)

ELTI is the European association of public national promotional banks and financial institutions gathering 31 members all over Europe.

The European Investment Bank is the long-term lending institution of the European Union owned by its Member States. It makes long-term finance available for sound investment in order to contribute towards EU policy goals.

The participating institutions are bringing together their expertise, experience and financial capacity to better support the implementation of projects and initiatives promoting refugees’ integration in Europe. The pan-European support initiative for Ukraine will provide loans, grants, equity investment and guarantees for eligible projects and develop innovative financing structures for public and private infrastructure, municipalities as well as private enterprises of different sizes.