New institutional cycle and economic priorities 2024-2029 amid deteriorating security

Policy Dialogue
07 June 2024
Speaker: Nadia Calviño, President of the European Investment Bank
Moderators: José Juan Ruiz; Chairman of Real Instituto Elcano & Fabian Zuleeg, Chief Executive and Chief Economist at the European Policy Centre
The EPC and the Elcano Royal Institute organised this hybrid Policy Dialogue to discuss the role of the European Investment Bank (EIB) in boosting Europe’s economy and defence in the context of a permacrisis and a changing institutional cycle.
Amid geostrategic competition between Europe, the US, and China, and profound technological shifts combined with the urgency to bolster the European defence industry in the face of Russia’s war in Ukraine, the stakes for European competitiveness are high. In addition, the 2024 European Parliament elections are expected to reshape the political landscape in Brussels with a potentially significant tilt to the far-right.
Against this backdrop, the President of the EIB, Ms Nadia Calviño, delivered a keynote speech on the main economic opportunities and challenges and shared her perspective on the new institutional cycle. Topics discussed during the event included: measures needed to ensure Europe’s focus on competitiveness meets the new geopolitical and geoeconomic realities. And, how the EIB has adjusted its policies to put the EU industry on a war footing.