European promotional institutions and European Investment Bank Group to accelerate investment and strengthen Europe’s competitiveness, resilience and security

Munich, 20 February 2026. The leaders of Europe’s largest national promotional banks and institutions BGK (Poland), Caisse des Dépôts – CDC (France), Cassa Depositi e Prestiti – CDP (Italy), KfW (Germany), Instituto de Crédito Oficial – ICO (Spain), and the European Investment Bank (EIB) Group, whose combined 2025 financing amounts to more than €300 billion, met today in Munich to reaffirm their shared determination to boost investment, competitiveness and resilience across the European Union and build on more than a decade of close cooperation.

In a rapidly changing global environment, the group underscored its commitment to work together to address Europe’s most pressing economic challenges, strengthen competitiveness, close persistent investment gaps and reinforce the EU’s strategic autonomy.

The financial leaders highlighted the essential role public long-term investors play in mobilising private capital and driving long term investment aligned with EU priorities.


Strengthened cooperation on strategic priorities

The institutions reviewed progress and agreed next steps in several priority areas:

• Competitiveness: Building on the landmark Draghi report on the future of European competitiveness and the Letta report on the Single Market, as well as recent national analyses, the institutions reaffirmed their determination to support deeper integration, scale up investment in innovation, skills and infrastructure, and improve the business environment for European companies. The institutions and the EIB Group translate this agenda into concrete action through coordinated, long-term financing and innovative instruments.
   
• Security and defence: Working together to support additional security and defence investment essential to bolster Europe’s security and industrial resilience, including leveraging on private capital to meet the European investments needs in this sector. 
  
  Following the agreement reached in Warsaw in June 2025, the institutions are happy to welcome five additional institutions joining and reinforcing this cooperation initiative on security and defence: Banco Português de Fomento (Portugal) and the promotional bank of the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia, NRW.Bank (Germany).
  
  An analysis has been shared for the creation of a Security and Defence Infrastructure Fund with a sizeable amount, supporting critical infrastructure projects to bolster Europe’s security and industrial resilience. This initiative aims at encouraging the development of security and defence infrastructure funds and leveraging private capital to meet the European investments needs in this sector.
   
• Digital sovereignty: Exploring strategies to strengthen digital sovereignty and implementing concrete actions to ensure technological autonomy and resilience. The institutions agreed to develop a digital resilience index to measure digital dependencies and to strengthen European independence. 
   
• Savings and Investment Union (SIU): Advancing collaboration on market based instruments - such as the expansion of the successful European Tech Champions Initiative, improved exit tools, securitisation solutions - and improving complementarity with national initiatives such as KfW’s Germany Fund and BGK’s Future Tech Poland.
   
• Housing: Building on the European Commission’s Affordable Housing Plan, national promotional banks, and institutions and the EIB Group will intensify cooperation to expand and enhance the financing of housing programmes across the EU.