The European Investment Bank Group (EIB) has approved its 2026–2028 Operational Plan, maintaining its record-high financing target of €100 billion for next year, the EIB announced. The plan includes a significant boost in security and defence financing, rising to €4.5 billion—5% of total EU lending. Investments will align with the EIB Group’s eight strategic priorities, with a strong focus on green finance, technological innovation, security and defence, and Ukraine.
“Amid extraordinary geopolitical challenges, Europe stands as a beacon of stability and confidence,” said EIB Group President Nadia Calviño. “The EIB Group continues to play its role in reinforcing Europe’s competitiveness and security, contributing to a strong EU voice in the new world order.”
The decisions were taken at the latest meetings of the EIB and European Investment Fund Boards of Directors. The planned €100 billion includes €15.3 billion from the EIF, which supports European businesses through equity investments, guarantees, and securitisation.
The EIB Group also agreed to expand its flagship European Tech Champions Initiative to strengthen technology companies across Europe and boost innovation and competitiveness. The expanded program, ETCI 2.0, will support both large mega funds and mid-sized funds, helping tech companies access the capital they need to scale up. ETCI 2.0 aims to mobilize financing from EU countries and institutional investors like insurers, pension funds, and banks, deepening public-private partnerships. The EIF and EIB Boards committed a combined €1.25 billion of their own funds to ETCI 2.0.
ETCI is the cornerstone of the EIB Group’s TechEU program, the EU’s largest financing initiative for innovation. The program ensures that ideas, companies, and technologies developed in the EU can grow within Europe. Since launching in 2023, ETCI has supported nine tech scale-ups valued at over $1 billion each—companies known as unicorns.
The EIB Group Boards also approved €7.5 billion in new project financing to boost the EU’s social infrastructure, climate action, and global partnerships. The support covers hospital upgrades and healthcare innovation in France, Germany, and Sweden, and new schools in Finland, France, and Slovakia. It also includes sustainable agriculture in Lithuania and Poland, green and digital infrastructure in Spain, and water projects in Italy, Spain, and Sweden.
Beyond the EU, the new financing supports business finance in Ukraine and Europe’s Global Gateway strategy, including vaccine production in Colombia and South Africa, electricity-grid improvements in Ethiopia, water infrastructure upgrades in Gambia and the Solomon Islands, and climate change adaptation in Pakistan.
