During the plenary session (5-8 July 2021) of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, MEPs debate on the financial activities of the European Investment Bank (EIB), the annual report 2020 and the control of the financial activities of the European Investment Bank, annual report 2019. Opening statements by Pedro SILVA PEREIRA (S&D, PT) and Bas EICKHOUT (Greens/EFA, NL), rapporteurs; by David CORMAND (Greens/EFA,FR), from BUDG Committee, statement by Werner HOYER, President of the European Investment Bank and Valdis DOMBROVSKIS, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission in charge of an Economy that works for People, and Commissioner for Trade. This transcription is the result of an automatic process. Please check against delivery.

statement

Strasbourg

plenary session

EICKHOUT, Bas (Greens/EFA, NL)

SILVA PEREIRA, Pedro (S&D, PT)

economic growth (T)

joint debate

HOYER, Werner (DE)

DOMBROVSKIS, Valdis (EPP, LV, EC)

European Investment Bank

European Investment Bank annual report (T)

CORMAND, David (Greens/EFA, FR)

economic situation in Europe (T)

Joint debate on the European Investment Bank: opening statements by Pedro SILVA PEREIRA and Bas EICKHOUT, rapporteurs, David CORMAND, BUDG, Werner HOYER, President of the EIB and Valdis DOMBROVSKIS, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission

SOUNDBITE (Original), Othmar KARAS, EP Vice-President, Ladies and gentlemen, the next item on our agenda will be the joint debate on the European Investment Bank with the report from Mr. Silva Pereira, Financial activities of the European Investment Bank Annual - Report 2020 and Mr. Eickhout's report, Control of the Financial Activities of the European Investment Bank Annual - Report 2019.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Othmar KARAS, EP Vice-President, I'd like to draw members attention to the fact that during the course of this debate, as per usual, they will not be any blue cards nor spontaneous contributions. There will be a possibility for members to connect from the European Parliament, information and liaison officers will start with the debate. Now, Mr. Silva Pereira, you have the floor.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Pedro SILVA PEREIRA, rapporteur, Thank you President, Vice President of the European Commission, Mr. President of the EIB, welcome to the European Parliament. I'd like to begin by thanking all of the political groups and the two shadow rapporteurs and the Budget Committee for helping me draft my report on financial activities of the EIB in 2020.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Pedro SILVA PEREIRA, rapporteur, And the constructive attitude of colleagues, I think greatly improved my report with the report. Parliament has done its duty of carrying out democratic oversight of the activities of the European Investment Bank, the Public Bank of the European Union, the only international financial institution It's entirely owned by the member states of the EU.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Pedro SILVA PEREIRA, rapporteur, And so I wanted to stress that the investments IT finances, which follow the values and priorities of the European Union and or of course, in particular the public purpose products projects. But we have the annual report and we have certain hearings where we talk to the board of the EIB, but we still think there ought to be there must be interinstitutional agreement between the bank and the parliament, which makes its democratic oversight a structured thing, which makes guarantees for regular hearings and also guarantees access to information and a written question and answer system.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Pedro SILVA PEREIRA, rapporteur, We want to put forward a memorandum of cooperation so that we can structure regular dialogue between our two institutions. My report, as I've said, is on the year 2020, with all aware how 2020 was a very particular, very difficult year, but it confirmed the crucial role that the European Investment Bank has. Parliament pays tribute to the emergency financing and the economic recovery grants given by the EIB, the 40 billion euros at the beginning, which allowed more credit and liquidity for SMEs and the 25 billion euros from the European Guarantee Fund, which were particularly important for SMEs but also for the health sector.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Pedro SILVA PEREIRA, rapporteur, And it was indeed partly went to fund vaccine production, but also five billion euros that was earmarked for covid support outside the EU, including participation in the Covax programme for a fairer distribution of vaccines throughout the world.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Pedro SILVA PEREIRA, rapporteur, In this Parliament, our position is that the guarantee fund should stay running beyond 2020 and that the European Investment Bank should look at incentives to speed up credit lines and projects which have already been approved.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Pedro SILVA PEREIRA, rapporteur, There is a gap, a chronic gap of investment in the European Union, which has only led to an increase in inequality the way that the EIB and other financial instruments link ought to be improved and additionality of products, projects which are financed needs to be guaranteed.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Pedro SILVA PEREIRA, rapporteur, There's also a question of geographical balance for financing. We should guarantee more support for less attractive regions when it comes to investment and those which have problems with state aid rules throughout the crisis.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Pedro SILVA PEREIRA, rapporteur, After the Green Deal, ambitious goals of decarbonising Europe's economy have been put together and the climate and investment gap needs to be closed. And the EIB can play a big role in that.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Pedro SILVA PEREIRA, rapporteur, This is already a mission that the investment bank has tried to carry out. And the new roadmap, 2021-2025 simply enhances the ambition of the EIB. And that's something which we again welcome most warmly, EIB financing. And we will follow the agreement achieved in Paris back in when it comes to 2023.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Pedro SILVA PEREIRA, rapporteur, Energy, transport, industrial policy, these are all supported by the EIB. But we also need to look at the social sector, investment in education and vocational training, the health sector and also housing.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Pedro SILVA PEREIRA, rapporteur, We should not forget the important role the EIB has played in supporting development cooperation, which we should strengthen in global Europe, where the EIB will have a very important role to play.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Pedro SILVA PEREIRA, rapporteur, So the European Parliament once again in this report, stands up for strengthening the capital holdings of the EIB so that the EIB can be able to meet its challenges and do its duty. We want the EIB to expand its policies and do something about improving its rules when it comes to conflicts of interest, have a zero tolerance policy when it comes to harassment at the workplace, and have a more structured dialogue with staff representatives.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Pedro SILVA PEREIRA, rapporteur, We want the European Investment Bank to be able to discharge its duties and meet its ambitions better. We pay tribute to the work done by the EIB in the European Parliament, and we think that the bank is increasingly in line with the priorities of the European Union and we want to be more in line with citizens' expectations. Thank you, President.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Othmar KARAS, EP Vice-President, Thank you, Mr. Pereira. The report on 2019 now from Mr. Eickhout.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Bas EICKHOUT, rapporteur, Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you, President Hoyer, for being here. It's got a yearly tradition, isn't it? And also Vice-President Dombrovskis. I think if you read the reports both in ECON, where I was shadow, but also, of course, the budget control reports, you do see that that for the parliament, the EIB, the European Investment Bank is a very important bank and it's the largest multinational investment bank that we have. And we very much also welcome that the role that, for example, EIB played in in the famous Juncker investment plan.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Bas EICKHOUT, rapporteur, 2019 it always feels a bit awkward, to be very honest, to do a budget control of 2019. But we are all the way halfway to 2021. But that was an important year because that was also the year where the EIB announced to become the climate Bank of Europe and being a green at the same time. I can only welcome that, of course, but as we also see with the Green Deal, Ambition is one thing, but now we have to put it into practise and put it into action, and there are, of course, still some critical questions to be asked.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Bas EICKHOUT, rapporteur, For example, if you look at the absolute emissions that are linked to the project that the EIB is financing, the emissions rose from 2019 compared to 2018, and there was still a finance of six hundred eighty five million into gas projects. We know that the energy lending policies have been changed. But still, we would like to hear also from from President Hoyer on how are you going to make sure that this phase out of gas projects is going to be put forward?

SOUNDBITE (Original), Bas EICKHOUT, rapporteur, Also, given the concerns we are still having into if you look into projects like Trans Anatolia or Trans Adriatic, these big gas pipeline projects, and also there would be very much interested to hear from President Hoyer how the EIB is going to look at the issues of a fossil lockin.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Bas EICKHOUT, rapporteur, Because if we want to go to a go to into a future of decarbonisation, then lock in into any other fossil fuel is not what we want to do. And I'm sure we agree on that. But I do would like to see some vision on of the EIB to work on that.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Bas EICKHOUT, rapporteur, The same is also on the lack of transparency about emissions that are being financed via intermediaries. So you have to direct projects, of course, but you also have the intermediaries that are financed through EIB and are causing emissions. And we would like to see more transparency of that as well so that we are having a full footprint analysis of the EIB and not only through direct.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Bas EICKHOUT, rapporteur, Looking at what the EIB has been doing, we we very much complement what you have been doing on the revision of the energy lending policies, the climate roadmap, the upcoming transport policies, reform where at least if we are not mistaken, the EIB will announce also to stop airport expansion. That would be good to reiterate that, of course, once more.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Bas EICKHOUT, rapporteur, But also here, I think it is very important that we also look at the counterpart framework of the EIB again to make sure that there are decarbonisation targets for the EIB clients and intermediaries again. So I would be interested to hear from President Hoyer on that as well.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Bas EICKHOUT, rapporteur, Not only as the EIB, a climate bank, it also portrays itself as a development bank, sort a role outside the EU. But there we really still would like to see the point that there is a concern of violation of human rights and really effective complaint mechanisms. And what is the EIB going to do about that in order to make sure that that is being improved?

SOUNDBITE (Original), Bas EICKHOUT, rapporteur, And this is also probably a question, too, towards the Commission. Also within the EIB we have, of course, a discussion grants versus loans towards developing countries. And you will not be surprised that for some developing countries, it's not the loans that work. It should be grants. And there I think also the commission should have a say. If we look at what the EIB is doing.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Bas EICKHOUT, rapporteur, I think where we are most critical is on the governance issues, staff issues, governance. So I think we do have to address that also here in this plenary. And we really would like to hear a good, good reply of President Hoyer on that on a couple of issues.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Bas EICKHOUT, rapporteur, First of all, on the conflicts of interest, I think the parliament has reiterated that a couple of times, that we are concerned that vice presidents sometimes are being in charge of their own home country. And we sincerely think that here there should be I'm talking about functions in a management committee, right.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Bas EICKHOUT, rapporteur, So that they are responsible for their home country. What is the EIB going to make sure that there is not a conflict of interest or the ideas of cooling off period, et cetera? Here, really, we need a better approach of the EIB.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Bas EICKHOUT, rapporteur, And I'm sure that that colleagues of mine will raise that issue as well. I see some already nodding and then, of course, the staff issues. There has been some serious cases of harassment. And and I have to be honest here to say that the initial reply of EIB could have been better.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Bas EICKHOUT, rapporteur, And I know that some of my colleagues will mention that as well. But any harassment case is serious and any harassment case should be prevented. And how is the EIB going to deal with that? Because I do think that any proportionate action needs to be taken and only written written warnings is not sufficient. So really here we would like to hear a reply of President Hoyer how to address that also because of the importance of the EIB.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Bas EICKHOUT, rapporteur, And this is a good development that the EIB is playing a more and more important role. But that also means that the scrutiny is more serious. And I think there also the EIB has to adhere to the last point is towards the Commission.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Bas EICKHOUT, rapporteur, You thought you could lay back there. But there is, of course, still the role of the commission that that is not very accountable towards the parliament. And this is especially true that Article 9 of 19 opinions where we do not know. Necessarily, what the Commission is position is taking when the EIB is deciding and the position of the commission can be very important there.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Bas EICKHOUT, rapporteur, So we want more transparency on the position that the EIB is taking in management decisions by the EIB. I would be very much looking forward to your reply on that. I think those are some of the important points. Thank you.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Othmar KARAS, EP Vice-President, Thank you. Before we turn to President Hoyer and Vice President Dombrovskis, we still have the representatives of the Budget Committee, Mr. David Cormand has the floor.

SOUNDBITE (Original), David CORMAND, (Greens/EFA,FR), BUDG, Thank you, President, Colleagues, Mr. President Hoyer, I've been in the EP since 2019 and we said that we want a bank which will change things and finance the transition. And the EIB said, yes, that's what will be will be the climate bank. We know how to do it and we will do it.

SOUNDBITE (Original), David CORMAND, (Greens/EFA,FR), BUDG, The problem is that we've been overtaken by events. We've seen the terrible pictures we've seen every week, every year, every month. What we do goes a lot more slowly than the environmental destruction because of climate change that we're trying to remedy.

SOUNDBITE (Original), David CORMAND, (Greens/EFA,FR), BUDG, As the previous speaker said, the EIB is still financing oil and gas projects. It's still financing motorways. What we need to do is change direction far more quickly than we're doing. So the question is very simple, Mr. President. If we want the EIB to be the climate bank, we need to act more quickly. We need to have more means and money available. We need to decide to really go for transition. Otherwise we will simply create more destruction of the environment. Thank you,.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Othmar KARAS, EP Vice-President, Thank you very much. Maybe then I can now officially welcome the President of the European Investment Bank, Werner Hoyer, as we mentioned on several occasions. Welcome to you. We are listening to you.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Werner HOYER, EIB President, Thank you very much, President, Honourable Members of the European Parliament, Ladies and gentlemen, it's a great pleasure for me to be here and to be here and not just to address you via video. The last time I have the privilege to address this house was in October 2019. How the world has changed since.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Werner HOYER, EIB President, It has been difficult, yet crucial year for the EU, its citizens and its institutions, and would like to use this opportunity to congratulate all of you for having kept the EU democratically elected institution fully operating throughout this challenging period.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Werner HOYER, EIB President, I'm happy to see that are constructive and fruitful exchanges continued throughout the pandemic. I would also like to thank the rapporteurs of the two reports, Mr Pedro Silva Pereira and Mr Bas Eickhout, for their thorough work and the good cooperation. The issues in your report are extremely relevant. I also very much appreciate your support to the EU bank, both for its activities in and outside the EU.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Werner HOYER, EIB President, As you know, the EIB group is an extremely effective instrument of the EU. In 2020, it increased its financing volumes to almost 77 billion euros, exceeding its own targets. A third of these funds, twenty five point five billion euros, went into the immediate crisis response that started with the first package in March last year.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Werner HOYER, EIB President, Most of it went to small and medium sized businesses to avoid insolvencies and job losses, especially in countries that do not do not have the necessary budgetary means for massive national risk rescue packages.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Werner HOYER, EIB President, And it was important to have a European response there because the impressive national schemes that we have seen, if left alone, would lead to a threat to the integrity of the internal market, so we needed a European component to that crisis response. At the outset of the pandemic, like firefighters, our job was to run forward into the fire and save others, in this case thousands of companies across the EU and beyond. And by the 31st of March 2021, EIB Group has approved financing of sixty four point one billion euro for covid-19 related projects.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Werner HOYER, EIB President, The European Guarantee Fund, launched at the peak of the crisis, is now delivering fast. Businesses of different sizes have access to short term financing, allowing them to pay their employees salaries, their invoices and keep their business afloat and I've listened carefully, there was the idea of making this a revolving or permanent institution is European Guarantee Fund.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Werner HOYER, EIB President, We have already reached half of our target. Around 14 billion euros worth of projects have been approved, spread over all 22 participating member states representing over 116 billion euros of investment in the real economy.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Werner HOYER, EIB President, Outside the EU as part of Team Europe, we also contributed over seven billion euros, including 600 million to the Covax Global Vaccine Distribution Facility, and I am of the opinion that this must be expanded because we must bring substance to this empty'speech sentence, that nobody will be safe until everybody is safe in this world. So we need to strengthen our activities. Also outside the European Union.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Werner HOYER, EIB President, In the EU, our support is not only aimed at helping companies, very substantial part of our working during the called 19 crisis was to support health projects aimed at ending the pandemic. This support targets the rise in vaccine development, therapeutics and diagnostics solutions. Again, covid-19 was loans to support hospitals were quickly approved a loan of 100 million to biotech. By the way, a company we knew for a long time because we had financed the development of their cancer products.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Werner HOYER, EIB President, That was leading to the development of the RNA technology, which is now useful for fighting covid-19. So we were practically the first in the industry to be on that track.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Werner HOYER, EIB President, We were in a favourable position of working with them for several years already because of the cancer treatments activities. We also supported over 25 highly innovative European biotech and medtech companies, which with projects in treatments and diagnostics against covid the health care sector, is clearly an example of what the EU bank does best.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Werner HOYER, EIB President, As a public bank, we step in to invest where private money would not or not yet because of the long term horizon of these projects and their high risks. But looking at the wider economy, what is clear is that the pandemic has exacerbated existing imbalances and accelerated structural changes.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Werner HOYER, EIB President, And this is why the programmes you approved in the context of the 2020 127 multiannual financial framework are of crucial importance.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Werner HOYER, EIB President, Under InvestEU, the EIB group will deploy nineteen point six billion euro of guarantee and a significant part of our work and investor. You will be to directly support cohesion regions and just transition. We're also very excited to have started bilateral discussions with several member states on how to implement the recovery and resilience facility through providing advisory services and developing financial instruments.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Werner HOYER, EIB President, And this brings me to my next point, which is how to best support a green recovery and transition. And speaking of transition, we today we are all countries in transition to transition to a climate friendly and truly digital economy.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Werner HOYER, EIB President, Yes, as we learnt sometimes the hard way, like from the transition of many new so-called old new member states in the early 90s. This process comes at a cost. The transition to net zero is also a risk.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Werner HOYER, EIB President, Also risks disrupting personal identities and deepening social inequalities. Some jobs once thought to be for life might be lost. What does it mean? It means that we need to put people in a position to grasp the opportunities of change and managing expectations to avoid disillusionment.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Werner HOYER, EIB President, It means that we need to have a just transition. I appreciate very much that this Parliament is so supportive of our climate action ambitions. A climate change roadmap sets out how we will support the European green deal with the most ambitious strategy on climate action of all movies and of course, fully in line with the EU taxonomy on sustainable finance, which I welcome very much because we need transparency, we need accountability, and we need reporting obligations.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Werner HOYER, EIB President, Only then will the investors give us the money that we need in order to finance all these policies to reach our objectives. It cannot be done with taxpayers' money. Only from 2025 onwards, 50 percent of all lending will be for climate action and environmental sustainability. This will help to leverage one trillion of investment of the EIB group over the critical decade ahead. That's a massive commitment.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Werner HOYER, EIB President, The second one is, of course, the full alignment of all our activities with the Paris agreement since the start of this year. And we are on track to achieve our objectives. We need huge increases in investment in physical capital, new energy systems, new transport systems, our carbon sinks, our ecosystems, and as I mentioned before, in people to develop skills and innovate.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Werner HOYER, EIB President, Need 300 billion euros a year just to modernise the energy sector. Yet for years, Europe has been lagging behind when it comes to investment and as was mentioned before, the Juncker plan was a big step forward.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Werner HOYER, EIB President, Ladies and gentlemen, let me talk at the end, what about the link between innovation, climate and development? This is crucial that we begin to think these three dimensions together, we will never be able to solve our climate issues and reach the climate objectives of the United Nations.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Werner HOYER, EIB President, If we think with eight percent. CO2 emissions in Europe reduced, we can do it, no, we must help the other parts of the world to go into the same direction and not with our technologies, but with new technologies.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Werner HOYER, EIB President, And if there is one sector where the Europeans are top in the class in the entire world, then it is cleantech. We will have this edge not only for a couple of years and then the others will have caught up. So if you don't want to see Chinese coal power plants to electrify Africa or American plants in the west of Africa or elsewhere with the shale gas used, then the U.S. must go into action. Otherwise, the sustainable development goals of the United Nations and the Paris goals will be going up in smoke.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Werner HOYER, EIB President, So I need to stop here because I'm so full of energy and ideas to refer to you. But I think I have the opportunity to come back and also respond to individual questions. I don't want to overdraw my account here. Thank you very much

SOUNDBITE (Original), Othmar KARAS, EP Vice-President, Thank you very much. And we look forward to hearing from you again at the end of the debate to respond to all the colleagues questions and comments. Next, let me wish I welcome the Vice President of the European Commission, Valdis Dombrovskis. The floor is yours.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Valdis DOMBROVSKIS, Executive Vice-President of the EC in charge of an Economy that works for People, and Commissioner for Trade, Mr. Chair, honourable president of the EIB, Mr. Hoyer, Honourable Members, I would like to welcome the two reports and thank the European Parliament and in particular the rapporteurs, Pedro Silva Pereira, and Bas Eickhout for their useful and relevant work.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Valdis DOMBROVSKIS, Executive Vice-President of the EC in charge of an Economy that works for People, and Commissioner for Trade, The European Investment Bank is a vital partner for implementing EU policies inside and outside our borders. I welcome this opportunity to discuss in the Parliament House. The EIB can help the EU to achieve our political priorities.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Valdis DOMBROVSKIS, Executive Vice-President of the EC in charge of an Economy that works for People, and Commissioner for Trade, The covid-19 pandemic has presented unprecedented challenges to our societies and economies. It required the EU to respond decisively and in a coordinated way our collective agreement on the largest recovery package ever to be financed through the EU's long term budget and next, the EU is a testament to this response.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Valdis DOMBROVSKIS, Executive Vice-President of the EC in charge of an Economy that works for People, and Commissioner for Trade, The support of our key partners, and notably the EIB, is essential in providing and leveraging investments aligned with EU policy priorities, including innovation and green. And these transformations as support should also be fully in line with our strategic geopolitical considerations.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Valdis DOMBROVSKIS, Executive Vice-President of the EC in charge of an Economy that works for People, and Commissioner for Trade, It is important for the EIB to further improve geographical balance and step up its activity in less developed regions, particularly in the context of the recovery. It is important to ensure a balanced development of the internal market and further convergence within the EU, while also contributing to green and digital transitions of these regions.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Valdis DOMBROVSKIS, Executive Vice-President of the EC in charge of an Economy that works for People, and Commissioner for Trade, The bank has a proven ability for significantly reshaping its activities and adapting to changing realities. The successful implementation of the European Fund for Strategic Investment perfectly illustrates this capacity to seise new opportunities and redefine business models to address investments gaps that still affect the EU today.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Valdis DOMBROVSKIS, Executive Vice-President of the EC in charge of an Economy that works for People, and Commissioner for Trade, This is particularly true for innovation and infrastructure sectors. The EIB group will remain a privileged partner under Invest EU, implementing 75 percent of the budget guarantee and advisory budget.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Valdis DOMBROVSKIS, Executive Vice-President of the EC in charge of an Economy that works for People, and Commissioner for Trade, Rapid deployment is essential, essential and I trust this will be one of the key priorities of the EIB group. We also rely on the EIB close cooperation with a Commission to align its operations and strategic direction with the EU's external policy objectives and build strong partnerships with other international financial institutions and a national promotional banks.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Valdis DOMBROVSKIS, Executive Vice-President of the EC in charge of an Economy that works for People, and Commissioner for Trade, Our aim should be to enhance our existing cooperation channels without major institutional changes or additional costs. We will build on the work of the High-Level Group on the External Financial European Financial Architecture for Development and on a Stronger Team Europe approach along the principles of EU policy first and open architecture.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Valdis DOMBROVSKIS, Executive Vice-President of the EC in charge of an Economy that works for People, and Commissioner for Trade, Let me now address two particularly relevant issues highlighted in your report.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Valdis DOMBROVSKIS, Executive Vice-President of the EC in charge of an Economy that works for People, and Commissioner for Trade, First, climate change. The Commission fully supports the ambitious climate action strategy of the European Investment Bank, matching the ambitious commitments of the Paris Agreement. More investment in renewable energy and energy efficiency will be essential to meet those commitments with the EIB Group's Climate Bank roadmap.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Valdis DOMBROVSKIS, Executive Vice-President of the EC in charge of an Economy that works for People, and Commissioner for Trade, The EIB became the first multilateral development bank to be aligned with the Paris Agreement and are ready to adopt the EU taxonomy. The EIB leading role in the climate financing can play an important role in a successful outcome of the upcoming COP 26 meetings on EIB close engagement with relevant stakeholders in this area.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Valdis DOMBROVSKIS, Executive Vice-President of the EC in charge of an Economy that works for People, and Commissioner for Trade, Secondly, tax compliance. The EU has taken significant steps to fight against tax avoidance. This includes integrating new requirements against tax avoidance in EU legislation concerning particularly its financing and investment operations.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Valdis DOMBROVSKIS, Executive Vice-President of the EC in charge of an Economy that works for People, and Commissioner for Trade, As a follow up the Commission has been working closely with the EIB and other implementing partners on adapting their current compliance procedures to this new environment. The EIB and Commission have a close and constructive cooperation to reflect the recent EU and international developments in the bank's procedures.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Valdis DOMBROVSKIS, Executive Vice-President of the EC in charge of an Economy that works for People, and Commissioner for Trade, However, those who are keen to avoid taxes are highly critical, so we cannot become complacent. The commission will continue to monitor this important area closely and work with the EIB on necessary adaptations of its policies.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Valdis DOMBROVSKIS, Executive Vice-President of the EC in charge of an Economy that works for People, and Commissioner for Trade, Now coming specifically to the question raised by Mr A'Court concerning Article 19 opinions, current Commission practise involves granting disclosure to individual Article 19 opinions upon request, which in Commission view provides the best balance of different interests.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Valdis DOMBROVSKIS, Executive Vice-President of the EC in charge of an Economy that works for People, and Commissioner for Trade, Such requests are treated according to the access to document rules governed by access to documents regulation. Those rules build on a presumption of disclosure, but also take into account that the opinions could contain information that is sensitive not only with regard to the EIB, but also with regard to third parties such as a private project promoters.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Valdis DOMBROVSKIS, Executive Vice-President of the EC in charge of an Economy that works for People, and Commissioner for Trade, This ensures at the same time the legitimate interests of a broader public in knowing the underlying rationale of Commission opinion and that third party rights are actually protected.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Valdis DOMBROVSKIS, Executive Vice-President of the EC in charge of an Economy that works for People, and Commissioner for Trade, To conclude, as the Commission looks forward for working on the upcoming revisions of its lending policies in a number of other important areas, notably the revision of transport lending policy, which must be seen through the lens of decarbonisation and the EIB environmental and social standards. Thank you very much. And I will look for a productive debate today.