EU Finance Ministers agree to support Nadia Calviño as next President of the European Investment Bank

European Union Finance Ministers agreed today to support the candidacy of Nadia Calviño as President of the European Investment Bank (EIB). Ministers were discussing in their capacity as EIB Governors in the margins of today’s EU Economic and Financial Affairs Council meeting in Brussels.

The decision was reached following consultations among the Bank’s shareholders, led by Belgium’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Vincent Van Peteghem, who currently chairs the EIB’s Board of Governors.

“The EIB is a key instrument for delivering EU policy goals, both within our Union and beyond our shores,” said Van Peteghem. “We are convinced that Nadia Calviño has all the qualities needed to manage the world’s biggest multilateral bank, channelling much-needed financing to businesses, and supporting investment to boost Europe’s competitiveness and sustainable growth.”

Nadia Calviño, who is First Vice-President of the Government of Spain and Minister of Economy, Trade and Enterprise, would succeed Werner Hoyer, whose second mandate at the helm of the EU bank ends on 31 December 2023. An economist by training, Calviño previously served between 2014 and 2018 as Director-General for Budget at the European Commission.

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“The EIB, the EU’s financial arm, is a key institution for the European economy. It will have an even more important role going forward to fund the green transition, to provide financial support to the rebuilding of Ukraine, and also support the role of Europe in the world” said Calviño. “I am honoured by the Ministers’ trust and support to be at the helm of the EIB Group.”

Under Dr. Hoyer’s leadership since 2012, the EIB became the first multilateral bank to end support for unabated fossil fuels and raised its lending volumes for clean energy and security investments in Europe to unprecedented levels, earning the title of EU climate bank. Dr. Hoyer spearheaded initiatives ranging from the financing of vaccines against Covid and polio, to helping European businesses weather the fallout from the 2008 financial and social crisis, the COVID pandemic, and Russia’s war against Ukraine. Hoyer also ensured the EU bank did not suffer from the impact of Brexit and steered the largest capital increase in the Bank’s history. Recognising that most of today’s challenges are global, in 2022 the EIB launched EIB Global to support climate action, economic growth, innovation and development beyond the EU.

“I am proud of what the EIB Group and its dedicated, talented staff have achieved over the past years. Most of all, I am confident about its future, following today’s decision,” said Hoyer. “Having someone with Nadia Calviño’s breadth of experience in politics and finance in charge of our operations highlights the commitment of our shareholders – the EU Member States – to expand our footprint and ensure that at a time when Europe faces such profound challenges, the EU bank will have the leadership it needs as financing arm of the EU.”

The political agreement reached today paves the way for the formal appointment process by the EIB’s Board of Directors and Board of Governors by written procedure. It is expected that voting within the EIB’s Board of Directors and Board of Governors will be finalised in the next weeks, ahead of the official staring date of the new President, which will be 1 January 2024.