Top candidate for head of European Investment Bank cautions about defense, nuclear investments

France has been pushing for a candidate sympathetic to steering the EIB funds to nuclear projects and defense investments.

Vestager cautions about defense, nuclear investments in EIB pitch

BY PAOLA TAMMA. SEPTEMBER 15, 2023, Politico

The European Investment Bank is ‘for everybody,’ Dane says in an effort to win wider support for job bid.

SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA, Spain — The European Investment Bank should not become a “political fighting arena” for investments in nuclear energy or defense, said Margrethe Vestager, who’s trying to convince European Union finance ministers to pick her to head the powerful government-backed lender.

Vestager, currently on leave as EU digital and antitrust chief, is one of the top candidates to take over from President Werner Hoyer next year and lead the bank that finances EU policies, from fighting climate change to rebuilding Ukraine.

She stressed that a successful candidate needed broad support, including smaller countries, because “the bank is for everybody, big shareholders as well as small shareholders,” she told POLITICO on the sidelines of a finance ministers’ gathering in Santiago de Compostela.

France and Germany, who together with Italy, account for nearly half of the bank’s capital, haven’t said who they will back. France has been pushing for a candidate sympathetic to steering the EIB funds to nuclear projects and defense investments. It also wants someone willing for the cautious lender to take on more risks.

Germany has emphasized that “sound banking is essential” and that “the mission of the EIB mustn’t be overstretched,” Finance Minister Christian Lindner said ahead of the meeting.

Nuclear “is a good example of the fact that the bank should not be a political fighting arena,” Vestager said. The EIB “should not take sides” and should “engage in processes that maybe can find a new balance.”……………more https://www.politico.eu/article/margrethe-vestager-nuclear-defense-eib-european-investment-bank-pitch-smaller-nations/

September 16, 2023 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, EUROPE