The European Investment Bank and the water sector

European Investment Bank

Description

Regional policy and regional economies
Environment policy and protection of the environment
Target audience: General public

Informations

• Publié par: EUROPEAN-INVESTMENT-BANK
• Nombre de lectures: 52
• Langue: English

Extrait

Through its lending, the European Investment Bank (EIB)

supports capital projects that give practical expression to the

objectives of the European Union (EU). Environmental protection

and improving people’s welfare are one of the Bank’s top priorities,

for which it has decided to earmark between 25% and 35% of its len-

ding in the member countries of the Union. In 2004, the environment

accounted for 36% of lending for major projects in the EU-25, 59% in the

Accession Countries and 18% in the partner countries.

The European Investment Bank and

the water sector

The EIB’s individual loans in the water sector in 2004

amounted to EUR 1 895 million, of which EUR 1 659 million

in the EU-25 (EUR 1 520 million in the EU-15 and EUR 139

million in the ten new member countries), EUR 29 million

in the Accession Countries and EUR 207 million in the partner

countries.

Since the 1980s, the

water and sanitation sector

has been

a key area for EIB lending. The projects financed help to

protect and safeguard the natural environment and con-

tribute to the welfare of the people concerned, to regional

development and to economic and social cohesion within

the EU, to reducing, in certain regions, the health risks

associated with water-borne diseases and, in the partner

countries in particular, to combating poverty. In the con-

text of the EU’s Framework Directive on water, the EIB

The EIB and

the water sector

Individual

Environmental

loans

objective

EU-25 + Article 18 (Iceland)

28 776

10 378

36%

Accession Countries

49

29

59%

Partner countries

2 623

465

18%

TOTAL

31 448

10 872

35%

Share of “environmental” loans in 2004

(EUR million)