EIB reiterates support for sustainable public transport

Publication date: 16 March 2009

The European Investment Bank (EIB) considers the financing of existing public transport projects an excellent way to counter the economic crisis, explained ts President, Philippe Maystadt, on 12 March in Barcelona, at the organisation’s annual forum. This year the event focused on ‘Connecting Europe: Financing mobility and sustainable cities’. Maystadt and Spanish Minister for Equipment and Transport, Magdalena Alvarez, announced at the forum the signature, following a meeting of the EIB Board of Directors, of loans to the Spanish government in the amount of €2.76 billion.

These include a €1.3 billion loan for the high-speed rail line between Madrid and Valencia. The project is the EIB’s fifth intervention in Spain in support of highspeed lines over the past decade, in the framework of the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T). Spain is one of the leading beneficiaries of EIB funds. While the announcement in itself is not spectacular, it came earlier than planned and illustrates what Maystadt referred to as one of the strategies adopted by the EIB to fight the economic crisis: “The acceleration of financial support for existing and well thought out projects, preferably in the field of public transport”.

In the short term, this will allow “rapid job creation, and in the longer term, support for economic activity through profitable projects that are useful for the future and for combating climate change”.

The EIB has already demonstrated its ability to react speedily with its support for many other sectors. In addition to clean transport, these include small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), energy, infrastructures, climate change and convergence policies. Maystadt announced, on 9 March, the grant of nearly €7 billion during the first half of 2009 for the key players in the automotive industry for the development of greener cars. For 2009 and 2010, the EIB plans to increase its total volume of lending by some 30% (€15 billon) over previous years. According to Maystadt, the goal of investments in intra and interurban transport is to improve connections between the centres of “inspiration and innovation” that European metropolitan areas represent.

They are vital centres, which European consumers consider poorly funded, according to a study published by the European Commission last month.

Public transport ranks last among 20 major industrial sectors in such areas.

Source: Europolitics