Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-07-06-Speech-3-438"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20050706.32.3-438"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
".
Mr President, Commissioner Michel, ladies and gentlemen, I too would like to thank Mrs Zimmer for this fine report. The importance of the European Investment Bank is underlined by two facts; one is that the EUR 40 billion it lends make it the world’s biggest public source of credit, while the other is that its active presence in over 100 countries makes it, as a development bank, second only to the World Bank in terms of size. The problem, though, is that its statutes stipulate that the European Investment Bank is not actually meant to function as a development bank; they in fact impose upon it the obligation of adjusting its interest rates in line with what the market demands, that is to say of not offering particularly low rates of interest in order to promote objectives in such fields as development policy.
It has, however, been required to apply its lending policy towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals, and this, although something that is very much to be welcomed, is a contradiction, and one that ought to be resolved by the bank undergoing a fundamental reform. I believe that some fundamental thinking needs to be done about whether it might not be rational and proper for the Bank’s funding of development to be separated, institutionally speaking, from its European activities. It is because I believe that a political solution needs to be found to this ongoing contradiction that I regard this as the principal subject for attention in any discussion about the Bank’s policies.
Until such time, though, as such a fundamental reform is got underway, there is a need for other practical steps to be taken towards improving its policies and in order to enable it to help achieve the Millennium Development Goals. One thing that I believe has to be done is for the granting of loans to be guided by the need to address poverty and meet social, environmental and human rights criteria, which must take precedence over financial and technical considerations, and which the Bank’s management must ensure is put into practice.
Secondly, I think it very important that the Bank should make more use of the instruments for interest rate subsidy provided for in the Cotonou and MEDA agreements, in order to become able to finance the development of small and medium-sized enterprises by means of loans at lower rates of interest. The difference between these and the high rates that the Bank’s statutes oblige it to charge can then be made up by means of subsidies.
The third thing that has to be done is to assess and take into account the social and environmental effects of large-scale infrastructure projects, and to do so to a much greater extent than before. It is particularly important that no support be given to projects that do not meet the criteria of the World Commission on Dams, that is to say major dam-building projects. These three things I do believe we can put into practice right now, and then, in the long term, there will be a need for a fundamental debate on reform."@en1
|
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples